Underground
by Uumak
Summary: AU  As a treasure hunter, Naruto ventures to the 'Underground' in hopes of finding the fabled Uchiha treasures. But instead of treasures, Naruto finds himself one horny man and a dark secret that the government has hid for 50 years. EVENTUAL SASUNARU
1. Chapter 1

**copyright:** Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**pairing: **Mainly SASUNARU, but there'll be mentions of other couples too.

**rating: **PG-13 for swearing

**a/n:** This was an old story that I found on my old computer's hard drive. It was meant for a one-shot, but I suppose that when I was writing it before, I got a bit ambitious. Haha! So I recently re-edited it and now it's become a 6.5k worded story;; So I hope you like this, cuz I actually like this idea a lot (my younger self was a genius at making up plots that would never be completed, hurhur).

Please rate and review!

-Underground-

He accelerated down the twisted metal rod, breathing the ice cold air that whipped about his head. He spun the board under his feet and leaned forward, his bag thumping his side repeatedly. Like a feline, he twisted gracefully as his board scraped the hard metal pole and pivoted him to the left and down the long steel snake and into the white clouds. He was finally heading out to the 'Underground.' Sky-boarding down the metal rods that held up *Kumogakure was the only other way he could get down there—smuggling onto a shuttle cost waay too much *yor for the young boy, and plus, it was illegal. Besides, the thrill of launching down from the metal pipes was enticing and addicting.

Uzumaki Naruto was quite well known for his skills at navigating down the metal jungle. He had tried to leave for the 'Underground' 2 years ago but his teacher, Jiraiya, had outclassed him easily and sent him flying into a cargo air-ship that was bound for Kumogakure. Naruto could easily remember his former teacher's sadistic laugh as he was dragged into detention where the other guys made fun of him for not reaching the 'Underground.'

His sleek orange and blue *sky-board made another sharp pivot over an opening pipe on the curving pole. The poles, or what the government called, 'the last reminder of the cruel world below' were in their own weird way, alive. Naruto could hear them. He could hear their deep breathing at night in his little apartment; the groans and shudders of the heavy metal. The young sky-boarder knew that the poles were being energized by something called 'chakra', which Jiraiya told him was a type of energy that every human in the *Sekai had. Naruto felt quite connected to the poles.

Oddly enough.

Naruto give a hard blink and rubbed his goggles. He always thought that when he would finally go down to the 'Underground', the Belt of Clouds would softly envelop him. Not freaking spray water in his face. _Jiraiya, that liar! Clouds aren't made of fluffy stuff!_ Naruto yelped as he nearly fell off the metal pole.

"Damn! With the clouds here, I can barely see where I'm boarding," growled Naruto. He dug his left heel into a socket on the sky-board's exterior and muttered," I guess Jiraiya was right about installing an auto-pilot."

Naruto continued downwards blindly, trusting his sky-board to take the turns or anything that got in his way. The blonde teen bolted towards the 'Underground', his face full of determination.

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**Flashback**

_"Hey Pervy-sage!" _

_The older, white-haired man spun around and thumped the young blonde, furiously muttering," Don't call me that!"_

_Naruto sputtered and held his head in pain," Errrg! Stupid Pervy-sage!" _

_"You're asking for another one kid," Jiraiya threatened, holding up an already-clenched fist._

_Naruto glared and rubbed his head again. He sat down and muttered darkly to himself. _

_"Now what is it?" Jiraiya said, looking up from his papers._

_Naruto pouted and grumbled," Why'd you stop me?" "Stop you? Whatever do you—ahhh, that."_

_Jiraiya cackled at the memory of tossing his foolish student off the metal poles. "Stop laughing Pervy-sage! Why'd you stop me," Naruto shouted._

_Jiraiya chuckled this time, putting his hands up in front of him," Easy Naruto, easy there." "How can I? You stopped me from reaching the 'Underground'!" _

_Jiraiya scoffed, thinking 'This again?' and turned around, not wanting to hear the younger blonde. Naruto saw this and grabbed the back of his shirt._

_"Why'd you stop me! C'mon Pervy-sage! Tell me!" Jiraiya sighed and pried the tan hands off his lab coat._

_"I stopped you because you're obviously not ready to go down there Naruto." Naruto scoffed this time," Me? Not ready? Hell, I've been ready since I was born!"_

_Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose," You still need to train more. I can't just let you board down there without a clue in the world…" Jiraiya faced Naruto again," Besides, you'd have gotten killed as soon as you touched the 'Underground's' floor."_

_"Not even! I'm super strong, you cow," insulted the young boy. This time, instead of pinching the bridge of his nose, Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's and dragged him outside of his empty classroom and to his office._

_Upon entering his office, Jiraiya promptly swung Naruto into a cushioned seat. The older man sat in front of Naruto and darkly muttered," If the government heard about you, especially you trying to go to the 'Underground' it would cause problems for me." Naruto scowled and replied hotly," I'll go in secret!" Jiraiya sighed and leaned back into his seat, stretching his back._

_"Honestly Naruto, why are you so intent on reaching 'Underground'?" Naruto's eyes gleamed with determination," How could you not know Pervy-sage? After all, you're the one who told me about it!"_

_Jiraiya blinked. "Whut?"_

_Naruto grinned foxily," Ya know! The Uchiha treasures!"_

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Naruto gave one last wipe to his goggles and saw the clouds starting fade. At last! After years of merely looking off the edge of the floating city's shore! The 'Underground' was about to finally be beneath his feet!

As the clouds spat Naruto out, he opened his eyes and peered down at the 'Underground' at last. It was just as Jiraiya had said.

Dark and ancient looking.

Naruto grinned,_ Finally! The Uchiha treasures are within reach!_

Naruto glanced down at the metal poles and to his horror saw green vegetation beginning to climb up the slanted rods. Naruto grit his teeth and struck the board with his heel and an electronic voice echoed," Hover-waves, activated."

Naruto's sky-board gave a small whizz under his feet, and then propelled itself and Naruto up about 5 inches above the metal rod. The blue air-waves continued to shift Naruto forward and over the moss that was beginning to appear on the metal rods. As he continued, the moss began to clump into thicker bunches and grow higher off the poles.

_"Remember Naruto! You'll know when you're close to the floor when you begin to see moss on the rods. That's a sign to start slowin' it down, otherwise you'll shoot off the pole and blast around the surface of 'Underground'! Alright?" _

Naruto grinned. He was lucky to have been taught by one of the most famous sky-boarders in all of Kumogakure. Jiraiya was even known as a Sage! Naruto leaned backwards and the waves below his board took the hint to slow down. Slowly, the young blonde began his descent into the treetops of the 'Underground.'

Although he had perfected the art of 'slowing down', Naruto hadn't perfected the art of 'watch where you're going.' As soon as the boy slowly descended down into the tall trees, the part of the board that was tipped backwards thumped against an exceptionally large moss clump, sending Naruto crashing down almost 50 feet into the trees.

But at least the trees cushioned his fall… somewhat.

Naruto groaned as he sat up on top of a pile of broken branches and clumps of moss. He was glad it had stopped the fall and prevented him from breaking his neck. What if the guys heard about how stupid he was? Breaking his neck as soon as he touched 'Underground' floor?

_'Just thinking about it makes me feel so uncool.'_

Naruto stood up on bruised legs and picked up his sky-board, compressing it easily to fit into his pants pocket. He looked around.

All around him, the trees were massive. Not only were they massive, they seemed so full of life as an invisible wind caressed its leaves. Naruto shifted his bag and proceeded forward.

"Now… If the Pervy-sage was right… I should find a dirt road if I walk…" Naruto pulled out an old yellow map. He scanned his coordinates and grumbled," If I walk.. If I walk… Ah! If I keep walking west, I'll hit a road that'll reach..

"Koh-noh-ha?" Naruto lowered his map and looked west," Konoha? Is that a town?" Naruto shifted his bag again and shrugged. "If it is, then I'll see if I can ask s'more questions there."

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**Flashback**

_"Hey Pervy-Sage." The white-haired put up a fist," One of these days, Naruto. One of these days." _

_"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, why do you know so much about 'Underground?' You know waaaay more than any of the *info disks at the library," the blonde questioned. Jiraiya looked at him and snorted," That's how great I am, shrimp." _

_Naruto huffed and spun around in his chair. "You're no fun, Pervy-Sage." The boy stopped his spinning and sat up. "But seriously..." Naruto began to whisper quietly," how come you know, but everyone else here doesn't?"_

_Jiraiya thumped the graded tests on his desk and looked at him tiredly. Why was this kid's curiosity level bigger than the government's ego? Why did he, the great Jiraiya, have to have this kid in his class?_

_"Listen, Naruto…" When the Pervy-Sage called him by his actual name and not an insult, Naruto knew this was serious stuff. "You wouldn't understand anything right now if I just decided to spill everything." Naruto gave a whine but was hushed by Jiraiya again._

_The older hissed quietly," I don't know what the government is up to, but keep your curiosity on the down low." The teacher straightened himself and walked to the door. He turned around and flicked a card at Naruto before leaving._

_Written on the worn-out business card, Jiraiya messily wrote 'find me at the onsens tonight" on the back. Naruto frowned, 'Onsen? That pervert just wants me to help him peep on girls again.' He pocketed the card and left the school, muttering about perverts and bathes._

_"Hurry up and tell me Pervy-Sage," hissed Naruto. _

_Jiraiya giggled quietly to himself as he peered through the hole in the wooden fence, separating the two males from the harem of steam and female naked-ness. Naruto rubbed his head and thought angrily, 'I should've just skipped! I knew he would do this!' _

_Jiraiya, glanced at Naruto's head rubbing. He smirked and looked back into the hole—only this time he whispered loudly also. Naruto looked at the old man in shock. Was this guy sane? What if one of those girls heard him? They would get a huge beating by the bathes owner, Tsunade, and perhaps a beating from her granddaughter, Sakura! _

_The teen sat up from his crouched position in an attempt to cover the old Sage's whispering. But the Sage saw and pinned Naruto easily to the ground, continuing his whispers. _

_"P-pervert sage! What are you doing? What if Sakura or the old Hag come out here and beat us to death?" Naruto wailed quietly. He wanted to live dammit! The old Hag and her daughter were the strongest in Kumogakure! To top that off, they had the shortest tempers seen on a woman—and women had short tempers, Naruto found._

_After a few minutes of struggling ("I'll kill you! I'll smash your balls up so hard, they'll turn into gall bladder stones!") and whispering, Jiraiya finally acknowledged the teen and let him go._

_Naruto glared and as about to beat the old man, when Naruto saw a green eye peak from the hole. He furrowed his brows together and crawled to the hole._

_"S-sakura-chan?" _

_The eye curved and disappeared from sight, but the voice lingered quietly," Long time no see, Naruto." There was a pause and then she whispered," You've been talking about 'Underground' haven't you? Otherwise Jiraiya-sama—ah, Jiraiya-sensei wouldn't have brought you here." Naruto looked quizzical. _

_Hadn't the old man brought Naruto so that he had a peeping partner? Jiraiya snorted silently and replied," He hasn't stopped talking about 'Underground' since the earthquake." _

_"Ahh, I see." Naruto clutched his head. What was going on?_

_"Naruto." Said boy snapped into attention and looked at his sensei. "You need to keep quiet about this. You can't talk about this outside or with anyone else. You can refer to 'Underground' but whatever we tell you about it, you have to keep to yourself." The jade eye stared intensely at Naruto's nod._

_"First, let's start off with the Uchiha treasures…"_

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"Is this the place?"

Naruto looked up from his aged map and stared at a large wooden gate. On its wooden exterior, there was a giant red symbol painted on. The blonde tilted his head and rolled his map up. Stowing it away, Naruto approached the giant doors and tapped it softly.

No response.

'_Of course, Uzumaki! There shouldn't be anyone here in 'Underground…' After all, this place is cursed…'_ Naruto shook his head. This was the only town on the map that Jiraiya provided him. So he couldn't just leave. Besides, he was an Uzumaki! No dumb wooden door was gunna get in the way of his treasure hunt!

Naruto pulled out his sky-board again and dropped it to the floor. The folded board suddenly expanded as it touched the floor. It hovered and waited for Naruto to step onto it, which he did.

"I'll just fly over the wall."

Naruto looked at the enormous wall that joined with the doors. The blonde gave a small hop and the sky-board glowed. The blonde leaned forward and the glow disappeared, only to reappear from under the board, sending Naruto speeding up the giant concrete wall. The boarder smirked. This was fairly easy, considering what Jiraiya had told him about 'Underground.' Naruto gave a mental hurrah. If he could surpass this gate, then most likely the treasure was on the other side! It was common logic among treasure hunters: Barriers were made to keep people away from precious things, especially treasure.

Zooming to the top, Naruto flipped mid-air and landed on the top of the concrete wall. He grinned down onto an ancient village below him," So this is Konoha!" Naruto took a deep breathe and descended the giant wall and into the empty village.

The village of Konoha was extremely large, but not as large as Kumogakure. The buildings, were old and dirty; many of the signs or windows were broken or covered in vines. From the top, Naruto had seen the roads diverging toward the farthest end of the village and centering in on a lone red building. The building had an old symbol that Naruto recognized from his textbooks on ancient writing. Above the red building, loomed a giant mountain with 5 sculpted heads. 4 of them, all male, were intact, but the last one was thoroughly trashed and destroyed. There was a familiar diamond seated on something that looked like a forehead, but the teen paid no attention to it anymore.

Upon arriving at floor level, Naruto hopped off the sky-board and pocketed it away again. He ruffled his yellow locks and looked around. Indeed, the village was empty. "Wonder who lived here," Naruto muttered aloud. Everything seemed to be mostly in one piece, so there had no been a war to wipe out the population. It was fairly clean too and no signs of bones or rotting carcasses. Naruto cracked his neck and put his hands on his hips.

"If I was Uchiha treasure, where would I hide?"

Naruto blinked and then smiled to himself. '_Of course! Important treasures belong in important places.'_ He was right to choose Jiraiya as his teacher. The man knew everything! From sky-boarding to the 'Underground', there was basically nothing unknown to the sage.

Naruto, deciding that Konoha was safe, leisurely walked towards the red building he had seen earlier—there was no need to rush after all. No one was there, right? The teen could take a couple of minutes and look at the old architecture, right? There was a 0% chance that anyone else was here. After all, this was 'Underground' and after all, he was Uzumaki Naruto!

There wasn't anything to worry about, right?

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**Flashback**

_"T-that's what it is? The Uchiha treasures?" _

_Jiraiya nodded and Naruto heard a sigh from Sakura across the fence. "It took awhile to find evidence from Grandmother Tsunade, but I found it. And the scroll clearly stated that if anyone got their hands on the Uchiha treasures, they could bribe the government into selling not only Kumogakure, but even *Kirigakure! It's no joke Naruto, believe me."_

_Naruto opened his mouth to reply but shut it. How, if anything, could a treasure like that exist? There was no one, not even in the government, that could easily buy that much. And how did Granny Tsunade know about such an awesome treasure like that and not tell Naruto!_

_Jiraiya analyzed Naruto's blank face and then looked up at the dark sky._

_"Hey brat. We're gunna leave." _

_Naruto snapped into attention whispering," Wait, right now!" They heard the water shift across the fence, as if Sakura was also getting ready to leave. "B-but Pervy-Sage, we just talked for like… 15 minutes! Couldn't I ask Sakura-chan more about the 'Underground?'" _

_Jiraiya gave him a warning look and sat up. He gave a long stretch and turned around, his wooden sandals clacking behind him," Give it a rest kid. It's late and you have school tomorrow." Naruto protested quietly, but Jiraiya turned around and replied," Why not choose a more appropriate place? Make it a date." With that Jiraiya walked coolly away. _

_Naruto swore he could hear Sakura giggle from across the wooden barrier. "Don't worry Naruto. Truthfully, I only found out about the Uchiha treasures. I don't know much about the 'Underground' itself." Naruto laughed stiffly and replied," Don't worry Sakura-chan! I'm sure you'll find out more later! Nihihi!" Another giggle. "Alright. But remember Naruto. You can't tell anyone. Got it?" Naruto agreed and heard splashing on the other side._

_Bidding him goodbye, Sakura added," Oh, Naruto." "Yeah?" "I promise I'll tell you everything I find out, okay?" _

_Naruto gave a toothy grin—too bad his long time crush couldn't see it—and turned away from the onsen. "Don't bother Sakura-chan." "Eh?"_

_"I'll just go down to the 'Underground' and find out for myself!"_

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As expected, the red building was the most important building there. Unlike the rest of the buildings there in Konoha, the structure of the red one was large and 'in-charge' one may say. But how was he suppose to get in? From afar, the building looked fairly easy to break in, but up close, Naruto felt cold looking at the spikes protruding from the shut doors—_'guess kicking the door open is out.'_ The windows were boarded up also, with the same giant spikes popping out from it.

The teen crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. The sun had finally risen above Konoha's walls and the rays gave Naruto a nice comfort. Escaping at night was a good idea: at least now he'd have more time and light to search for an entrance.

Firstly, Naruto began to walk around the circumference of the structure, staring at the angle at which the building met the ground. Surely there had to be a crack or a hole for Naruto to begin hacking at! Alas, there was none.

Secondly, Naruto decided to check if there were any gaping holes on the roof top for him to hop down. Using his sky-board, Naruto whirled up the building walls (avoiding the spiked windows at all costs) and hovered above the flat roof. No such luck either.

Thirdly, Naruto decided that perhaps the doors and windows were illusions! The spiked entrances were there to scare off an intruder, Naruto hypothesized. So Naruto, not wanting to sacrifice his body, rolled out a nearby barrel to the closest door. With a heavy push, the barrel spun towards the door, only to be stabbed by the numerous spikes. Naruto paled at the barrel and was glad he didn't decide to run straight into the spikes.

He had to hand it to those Konoha-residents, they sure knew how to keep a person out of a building. Naruto sat on a bench nearby. He should've thought this treasure hunt in more detail. He should've known things like this would happen and he should have gone and bought more things in advance. Saying that 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I can get through anything!' wasn't cutting it. Naruto rubbed his head angrily. He should've gone to Ten-Ten, dammit! Why had he forgotten about her up till now? The woman sold things from weapons to bombs! If he had gone there, bought a couple of bombs, then come down here, he would have been rolling around in Uchiha gold by now!

The blonde teen looked up at the sky: the sun was now right above the village of Konoha. This meant that Naruto had spent his whole morning devising plans in trying to get into this accursed building.

"Ahh! So frustrating!"

Naruto threw off his bag and ripped it open. Grabbing his water bottle, he gulped its contents down in anger. A building, throwing off Uzumaki Naruto? God sure was cruel. After finishing his bottle, Naruto huffed and laid back on the cement bench. What could he do now? Naruto tilted his head and stared at the red structure.

_'I tried everything so far. I even yelled out 'Open!' to it… What else can I do?'_

Naruto sighed and laid there for a couple of minutes. But soon he sat up quickly. "Shoot. I have to pee!" He stood up and held his crotch tightly. Muttering curses, he looked from right to left. Where were the bathrooms? Growling, Naruto picked up his bag and ran past the large red building and towards the mountain where the 5 heads were carved. He had seen a couple of green leaves peak out when Naruto had first entered. If there were no bathrooms, he'd have to relieve himself—the old-fashioned way!

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He sighed in relief and zipped his orange pants up. Thank god his intuition was right.

Indeed, there were trees under the chins of the 5 faces. Not only that, it looked like there was a school nestled in this woody area. Naruto washed his hands in a puddle nearby and wiped his hands on his pants. Slowly, he trudged around the school and finally settled himself on a swing that sat outside the entrance of the school.

"I should have told Pervy-Sage at least. He'd probably called me an idiot and then point me to the right direction." Naruto sighed. "I bet the guys are eating lunch right now."

Naruto looked up into the tree top that held the swing. He sighed again and decided to just play around a little. Pushing himself, Naruto began to swing lightly back and forth. '_Ahh. Just what I needed! A stress-relieving swing!'_ Naruto began to rock himself on the swing with more power, sending the blond higher and higher into the tree top. At the peak, Naruto looked at the school building and then glanced at the 5 faces, concentrating on the 5th face and its poor status. That 5th face looked so shabby. It was probably the shabbiest structure in all of Konoha. Instead of a full face, only the forehead and a familiar diamond remained in tact.

As Naruto slowly descended, he blinked out a sharp flash of light that seemed to pop out from the 5th stone face. He rubbed his eyes and halted the swing. "What was that?" He looked up in curiosity at the 5th face. Something had flashed a light at him.

"But what?"

Naruto furrowed his brows together and gathered his bag again. Stepping out from under the tree top, he looked at all the 5 faces and spotted something that he hadn't seen till now: a small walkway that curved into a small warehouse-looking entrance which settled under the 3rd face. Naruto's eyes followed the walkway backwards and saw that the steps leading up to it was actually nearby.

"Maybe…?"

Naruto sprinted towards the estimated area of the bottom of the stairs. "Could I find something there?" He passed over a red bridge and saw the stairs ahead of him. He skidded to a stop and looked up at the staircase. The stairs were made of wood and many of the steps had already deteriorated away. The teen pulled out his sky-board again popped it on. "There's gotta be something here, or where else can I find the Uchiha treasures?" Kicking his board alive, Naruto glided over the stairs and proceeded easily over the slightly-rotted walkway as well. As he approached the warehouse entrance he had seen earlier, Naruto stopped and hovered in the air. The air was a lot colder than before and the teen had developed a major case of goose bumps. Perhaps… it was the altitude? Naruto shrugged off the cold, prickly feeling and continued on.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Naruto gulped. The entrance was open, unlike the red building's doors and windows. But it was dark_—extremely dark_. Naruto dug through his bag and pulled out a sleek metallic flashlight. _'At least I didn't forget to buy this…´_He thought with a sigh of relief. Naruto fumbled with the switch, the light flickered on. Pointing the beam of light into the deep darkness, Naruto tensed in fear of something popping up.

"Arg, if the guys saw me now… Being a wussy when it really came down to it." Naruto shook his head. "They'd make fun of me for all eternity. Especially Kiba." He gave one last shiver and put his sky-board away. Naruto slowly edged himself down the rocky steps of the dark entrance.

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The inside was colder. A lot colder than the outside. Every time a misguided breeze blew through him, Naruto sprang up and threw himself at a wall. Unlike in his video games, the dark tunnel had no messy trials and cunning split ends. The path was straight, dark, and cold.

Naruto walked slowly down the tunnel. Its height was nearly 3 times his own height and the width was big enough to fit 2 bloated Choujis after BBQ. Occasionally, Naruto would take out his lighter and light an old wooden lamp that would appear sometimes. The light that came from lighting those lanterns kept Naruto sane. If there was no light, then Naruto was basically walking around blindly. With the lit lanterns, he could glance back and still see the faint orange lights—they comforted the teen.

He continued to venture deeper into the tunnel, until he hit a large open room. Instead of it being completely dark and spooky, there was a collapsed hole at the top that allowed a slender beam of light enter and brighten the cave room. Naruto ran to the middle of the room and glanced around. Unlike the rest of the tunnel, this room had things like moss and grass growing on the walls and floor. The light probably helped the small flowers in the middle of the room to blossom slowly too. The teen wiped his sweaty brow. This place was giving him the chills, but he was sweating so much that it made no sense to Naruto.

He sat down and opened his bag again. This time he pulled out a small snack and munched on it quietly. '_Ramen would taste so much better than crackers right now… But I'd have to spend 3 more minutes here, waiting for the water to cook the noodles…'_ Naruto thought sadly. He munched the last bit of his crackers and stood up, brushing the crumbs away from his clothes. Naruto gathered and bag and walked to the other side of the room where the tunnel continued into the blackness.

As he continued, Naruto felt colder and colder. He realized that the deeper he went, the colder the feeling became: and that scared Naruto. What was at the end of the tunnel? He was utterly spooked. '_No. I gotta stay focused! Just keep lighting any lanterns you see and keep walking…'_ The blonde nodded to himself, determined to get out. Soon, Naruto hit an incline and found that the tunnel was starting to go upwards. Slowly, he dragged himself upward, shivering all the while.

"Why is it so damn cold," Naruto muttered. The boy paused and dug through his bag, pulling out his orange jacket. He wrapped himself up in his warm jacket and shivered momentarily. Seriously! Why was it so cold? Slowly, Naruto felt the incline flatten out under his feet and saw the tunnel looking a tad brighter than before.

Brighter? Had he reached the exit?

Naruto's pace increased while his mind exploded with questions: What was at the end? The treasure? Nothing? Did he walk across the 'Underground' and appear on the other side of it? Would he find out a clue that would bring him closer to the Uchiha treasures?

Naruto sped up and turned another corner, his breathe slowly becoming visible. Where could he be going to make it so cold?—He lit another lantern—Did he arrive in the Land of Snow?—Another turn—Or maybe he discovered a giant freezer?—He made a sharp left—Why was it so cold?—One more turn.

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**Flashback**

**[See author's notes after reading this section]**

_"At 10:47 AM, on January 23, 2XXX, the village of Kumogakure was struck by an earthquake that rocked the town for 5 minutes. Scientists tells KNN that the power of the quake was at least a 9.11, setting a record high in over 50 years—_"

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_"Naruto! What are you doing?" _

_The blonde glanced at the brown-haired teacher. "Naruto! Get down from there! We need to go and evacuate like everyone else," the teacher pleaded. Naruto gave a long stare at the teacher but turned away. _

_They were so close, so clear. Their voices, but what were they saying exactly? "If only this fence wasn't in the way, I could go." Naruto's thin hands laced itself between the metal openings of the safety fence. Though there was a massive shudder and shivering from the ground under his feet, the boy ignored it. He focused his attention on the other side of the fence, on a dark hole that ripped into the white clouds. _

_Naruto tightened his grip. This fence… "If only it wasn't here." It was the only thing separating him from the edge of the floating village's land and miles upon miles of cloud and sky. "If only it wasn't here," Naruto repeated, his eyes red with frustration. "I could go there and make them be quiet." _

_"Naruto!" The teacher grabbed the tan blonde's arm and threw Naruto over his shoulder. "We have to go! You'll die out here!" _

_Naruto struggled in the teacher's hold, screaming," Let me go, Iruka-sensei! They won't keep quiet until I'm there! They won't keep quiet!"_

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_"Ya know Uzumaki Naruto?" _

_"Room 1010?" _

_"Yeah. I heard he hears voices from the direction the 'Underground.'"_

_"Oh dear. Did he hit his head during the Kumogakure Quake?" _

_"''mthinkin so. The 'Underground' is a bad omen. Hearing voices is bad already… But hearing them from the 'Underground?' The kid's a nutcase."_

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_"They don't mean it Naruto. You're not a freak." Naruto glanced at Iruka nervously. The teacher smiled._

_"They just don't understand." _

_"But I do hear them, Iruka-sensei. I dunno what they're saying, but I can hear them."_

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_"Uzumaki! You have a guest!" The teen looked up from his *info disk player. _

_"Who're you?"_

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_"Scientists are currently worried on the stability of the poles that hold Kumogakure up. Government official, Yakushi Kabuto, stated in a press conference an hour after the quake:_

_'The percentage that the poles are instable due to the quake is a mere 4%. We, your government, have already planned out steps to bypass that 4% and make it a 0% chance of any of the poles collapsing.'"_

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_"What do you think those voices are telling you?"_

_"…"_

_"Naruto?"_

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_"But what's really nutty about the kid, is that he wants to **go** to the 'Underground.'"_

_"Oh my word! He must have had something big hit his head for wanting to go there."_

_"But what's worse, is he's corrupting the other kids with the 'Underground' nonsense!"_

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_"Me? I'm the great Sage, Jiraiya."_

_"Sage? You? You look like a giant white furball."_

_"You—little cretin!"_

.

_"The voices… Some of them sound like they're whining and stuff. But…"_

_"But what, Naruto?"_

_"Some of those voices sound like they're crying. Like they're in pain."_

.

_"But scientists are skeptical about Yakushi-san's plan. Our Intel reporter, Shiranui Genma has the latest."_

_"Thank you, Anko. We're here live at the press conference and we have here one of the scientists against the governments plans. Hello, Morino Ibiki. So our question is why are you against the plan?"_

_"Because there is no plan."_

.

_"We shouldn't let our children near him anymore."_

_"Otherwise he'll corrupt them into wanting to go to the 'Underground' also."_

_"That boy is a monster!"_

.

_"Whenever I hear their voices, I can't sleep."_

_"How long have you heard them, Naruto?"_

_"All my life, I guess."_

.

_"So why're you here, old man?"_

_"Sage! And I'm here because I heard that you've been giddy about the 'Underground.'"_

.

_"No plan? What do you mean, Ibiki-san?"_

_"It's because it's the government's plan. The government has never helped us. If we don't act now, then in 10 or maybe even 5 years from now, Kumogakure will collapse into the 'Underground."_

.

_"Do you know a lot about the 'Underground'? Please, I need to know!"_

.

_"Don't get near Uzumaki Naruto, okay? He's bad news."_

.

_"We have just gotten word… t-that Morino Ibiki and several other scientists who were working under him have been violently murdered—"_

.

_"Why didn't you tell me that you've been hearing these voices all this time, Naruto?"_

.

_"Hey kid, when you graduate junior high… come find me. I'm a teacher at Shinobi High. We'll talk more about the 'Underground' then."_

.

_"If you even talk to Uzumaki Naruto, you'll be cursed by the tailed demons of the 'Underground'!"_

.

_"Officials are baffled at the violent killing of these scientists. They believe that the killer may be a radical working for hire…"_

.

_"I didn't want to scare you, Iruka-sensei. I didn't want to scare anyone."  
_

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Naruto caught his breathe and stared at the path ahead of him. He was so close. He was always so close. In front of him was what seemed to be a large chunk of a boulder. The boulder, though, had odd carvings and mismatched etchings in it. Looking up close at it, Naruto saw the same symbol he had seen on the red building's front.

_He was always so close._

Naruto growled and punched the rock, only to howl in pain.

_He was always so close._

He knelt down and rocked back in forth in pain, clutching at his assumed broken fist.

_He was always so… **so** close._

There came a crack, followed by hollow thumping. Naruto looked back up and glanced at the rock.

_So close._

Nearby where he had punched, Naruto saw that the rock had crumbled at the corner. He jumped up and gingerly moved away the rocks. The opening, was just large enough for him to squeeze through. _"It was common logic among treasure hunters: Barriers were made to keep people away from precious things, especially treasure."_ Naruto nodded to himself.

_So, so close._

He noticed the abundance of cold mist pouring out from the opening. Not only was the cold mist pouring out from it, there was a soft white light glowing from it. Naruto glanced at his bag that leaned against his side. He knew it wouldn't fit if he tried going in with it attached. So Naruto took it off, grabbed his map, checked his pocketed sky-board and knelt down on his knees. _'This is it. I have to find something here.'_ He gently held his hurt hand close to his body and began to squeeze through.

"Ar-rrgg…" Naruto closed his eyes and shoved his head from under the opening. As he struggled to free his shoulders and arms, he muttered quietly that he should lose weight or take yoga lessons. With his arms popped out, Naruto grabbed the side of the rock with his good hand and dragged the lower half of his body through the hole.

"Almost… there…!"

And with a grunt, Naruto finally dragged himself from out of the opening. He stood up slowly and looked around.

It was extremely cold now. He was in a medium sized room, much smaller than the darker cave room that he had been to before. Instead of a collapsed hole at the ceiling of the room, Naruto saw several giant icicles hanging down. There were opening were there was a soft light hitting the ice, creating the white glow. Naruto took another look around and saw that this room was much different than th other.

Besides the size or the fact that there were icicles hanging from the ceiling, the room looked man-made. There was a small row of stairs that led down into a dark pit, while on the sides of the room there was a walkway that circled the entire room. What caught Naruto's eyes was that along the walls of the walkways were lamps. But the lamps were already lit.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the stairs. They didn't seem to go that far down, but the light from the lit lamps seemed like they couldn't penetrate the darkness in the pit. The teen gulped and rubbed his hurt hand again.

"I'm already here," the boy muttered. "I can't back down now."

He inched slowly to the staircase and gripped a stone railing that split the stairs in half. With each step, Naruto heard not only the echo of his footsteps, but he swore he could he a soft murmuring. A whisper.

He took out his flashlight and shone it down at his feet. If he pointed directly out into the dark pit, Naruto was afraid he might faint if he saw anything there. He took another step.

Step—"_Em aher uyo anc?"—_Naruto shuddered: why was this voice so clear to him?

Step—"_Uyo rae owh?"—_Naruto found himself shaking with each step.

Step—"_Eon tiltel, dcears uyo rae?"—_Even though it was whispering, Naruto could tell it was a man's voice; it was too deep and husky to be a female's voice.

Step—_"Eon tiltel, ucet uyo'er."_—Naruto looked at his feet and with the light, saw that he was standing on the last step of the stairs.

Step—"_Emni uyo amek ll'I hiknt I."-_Slowly, Naruto began to look up.

_"Uyo toabu tahw, Sasuke si enam ym?"_

Naruto shifted the beam of light upwards, his eyes staring at the ground his flashlight slowly exposed.

_"Em orf olokgin uyo rae?..."_

Naruto blinked hard repeatedly, trying to push the voice out of his head. Where was this bastard hiding at? He must have been laying low here in the dark.

"Where are you..?" Naruto's light beamed straight out and his heart stopped slowly.

_"Dobe, erhe higrt m'I." _

Naruto's blue eyes stared deeply into red eyes. The blonde took a step back and tripped over the stair. Falling, he let go of his flashlight and let it roll back into the abyss.

But Naruto didn't care. All he could see were two red orbs, spinning wildly in front of him and all he could hear was the strangers deep husky whispers that seemed to only scare the blonde even more.

_'I should've just bought the bombs.'_

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**a/n: **H-how was it? It was long huh? Ha… But! I did note at one flashback to check here.

**flashback note: **You'll notice that during the flashback, whenever I break. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the breaks begin to slowly become smaller and smaller with each conversation change. After just one 'break' there's no more noticeable breaks.

The breaks are actually the . between each conversation. So like this:

"I love sasunaru, what about you?"

"Oh I love it!"

.

"There was a monkey in his pants."

"Dear lord."

With each space break, there is a new conversation. But if you took notice of it, after the breaks a conversation from earlier is continued.

This method of space breaking was actually founded by Aldous Huxley in his book _Brave New World._ It's a wonderful book if you're into a dark futuristic theme.

**the odd whispering**: If you remember, towards the end, Naruto hears those whispers and stuff. The italicized quotes. You probably were like," What the hell is this?" If you bothered to try and figure out what each quote was, then you'd probably know that I flipped a whole sentence backwards, and then rewrote each word backwards.

So here is what the quotes are:

"_Em aher uyo anc?"_ : "Can you hear me?"

"_Uyo rae owh?" _: "Who are you?"

"_Eon tiltel, dcears uyo rae?" _: "Are you scared, little one?"

_"Eon tiltel, ucet uyo'er." _: "You're cute, little one."

"_Emni uyo amek ll'I hiknt I." _: "I think I'll make you mine."

_"Uyo toabu tahw, Sasuke si enam ym?"_ : "My name is Sasuke, what about you?"

_"Em orf olokgin uyo rae?..."_ : "Are you looking for me?..."

_"Dobe, erhe higrt m'I." _: "I'm right here, dobe."

HOPEFULLY, you guys got who was speaking in this italicized backwards-ness.

**starred terms:** there are a couple of unique names/things in the story that I'd like to address.

-Kumogakure: The Village Hidden in the Clouds. It's basically a village/island that is held up in the sky by giant metal poles that are connected to the ground of the 'Underground.'

-Yor: it's currency. It's worth is about the same as a dollar. 1 yor equals 1 dollar.

-Sekai: Japanese term for "the world." So it's basically Naruto's world here in the story.

-Sky-boards: Skateboards without wheels. They've been designed to allow the skater to fly into the air or hover or grind.

-Info disks: The info disc replaces the books in a library. All you need to do is check out an info disk and when played will show you all the info you need to know. They're also fairly easy to duplicate.

-Info disk players: You use it by taking an info disk, putting it in and allowing it to play the information to you. It's essentially a DVD player.

**preview: **Naruto finds himself in deep water when this red-eyed man takes a liking into him. He attempts to escape, but finds himself making a deal with this man.


	2. Chapter 2

**copyright: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**rating: **PG-13

**a/n:** omg thank you guys ;w; I really didn't expect any reviews for the last chapter, but ya'll proved me wrong. Thanks especially to those who reviewed! You guys give me the energy to continue! So let's start!

-Underground-

Uzumaki Naruto believed that he was everything but a coward. He would not scream in the face of danger, nor would he run from it. He was a master at being cool—he was a master at _keeping_ cool.

But when the 17-year-old teen decided to blatantly ignore all laws against traveling to the 'Underground', to hunt for treasures, and to crawl through small holes in giant glowing rocks—Naruto realized that being cool was getting the hell out of there.

ASAP.

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As his flashlight rolled away into the darkness, the beam of light continued to concentrate on the red-eyed stranger's legs. The long pair of legs remained still and Naruto, who kept his frightened gaze on the spinning eyes, hoped that the man was bolted to that spot. Whoever, or _what_ever, this guy was, Uzumaki Naruto would not stick around to find out. Slowly edging himself up one step at a time, Naruto heard the mysterious whispering begin again.

"_Iogng uyo rae ewerh?"_

Naruto took a sharp intake of cold air and slide up one more step. Should he hold his breathe?

"_Uyo rewe I fi eeval doluwt'n I."_

Naruto gulped the cold air he inhaled and opened to take another breathe. The voice seemed to get more commanding with each whisper. The blonde bit his lip and lifted his body up another rock step.

"_Em dendatsun odt'n uyo messe ti. Kapes uyo od guagelan tawh?" _

In an almost futile attempt to keep his last bit of pride, Naruto whispered back," I don't know who you are…" He lifted himself up again.

"_Guagelan kanes's manded atht kapes uyo, ha…" _

"Or why you're here…" Two more steps, Naruto counted. He edged to the second to last step. "But I'm not gunna stick around to find out." He lifted himself up. One more.

"_Really? Because I don't think I gave you permission to leave, dobe."_

Naruto jolted up, his goose bumps multiplying with every word the voice said. The unknown whisperer suddenly was able to speak in his language! There really was no time to stick around—if this guy could communicate with Naruto within 10 minutes of their initial meeting, he did not want to stick around and see what would happen in another 10 minutes.

Quickly, Naruto stood up on shaking legs and took the final step up. The red eyes that had gazed at him suddenly lowered into a piercing glare.

"_Where do you think you're going?"_

Naruto held his injured hand and slowly backed away. The light on his flashlight flickered as on of the long legs shifted forward. Naruto began to sweat profusely and muttered to the other man," I am going to leave and not come back." The other gave a quiet snort. _"You think I'll just let you go? You're the first person I've seen in quite awhile."_

Naruto gave a hollow laugh and continued to back slowly away from the dark pit," That so? That must suck. I'm sorry to ruin your party, but I really must get going…!"

"_You do not leave unless I say you may."_

The cold air suddenly dropped in temperature and Naruto felt a sparking sensation in the air. He took two steps back and felt a strong gust of wind blowing from behind him and down into the pit. He watched in slight fascination and fear as the flames from the lit lamps floated off of their burning candles ('_Oh my God, I'm going to die! This guy's gunna burn my corpse up!_') and followed their orange glow. They swirled about in the cold air and plunged into the dark trench. The flames slowly settled against the walls of the cavity and Naruto saw a flash of black hair and white skin in the orange glow.

But the blonde didn't care. Instead of taking another second to look back at how his whisperer looked like, Naruto spun around and dove into the small hole. He shoved himself desperately and swore he heard hollow steps clicking behind him.

"_I'm telling you, don't try to leave me."_

Dammit! Had he gained weight or something? Why wasn't he sliding out of the hole like earlier?

"_You'll only regret it later."_

He pushed his head out and shoved his good arm out. _'Fuck, fuck! C'mon! Pull yourself out Uzumaki!'_

"_Even if you escape…"_

Finally! He kicked at the ground and forced his legs to propel themselves out. Naruto stood up shaking legs and grabbed his bag.

"…_I'll just find you and make you mine later on."_

Naruto bolted. He gave one last glance and saw two white feet in front of the hole—when did he get there so fast? The blonde raced out of there, the wind behind him extinguishing the lanterns he had lit earlier. He didn't care that during his shoving and pushing he had probably hurt his hand even more. He didn't care about how tired he suddenly got. He didn't even care about the Uchiha treasure at that point.

All he wanted to do was get the hell out of there, go home and sleep his fright away.

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'_The exit!'_

Naruto pushed himself off the rock wall and hurtled to the exit. He popped his sky-board out of his pocket and threw it out in front of him. In mid-expansion, Naruto jumped and landed on his board, blasting off the edge of the walkway and down into the small forest below. But the sun had already set and Naruto found himself dodging trees every other second.

He made a pivot and crashed. Looking up, he saw from the dark outlines, that he was lying underneath the tree he had swung from earlier. Naruto picked himself up and groped for his sky-board.

'_Dammit, it's too dark to try and get out of here right now… But that guy back there could be right on my trail…!'_ Naruto finally felt the smooth board and picked it up. He patted his pockets for his flashlight but remembered how he had dropped it into the pit. The blonde rubbed his head in frustration.

Where was he going to go now? There was no way he could board all the way to the nearest pole, let alone navigate back up them—it would be like committing suicide. Naruto squinted around… swing, tree, tree, bush, school, tree…

Naruto shot a desperate look at the school. Naruto held back a scared whine. _'I have no other choice. It's either I run back out and into the wild 'Underground' or I spend more time looking for a place to go…'_

Naruto boosted himself up and stuffed his compressed board into his left pocket. Slowly, the teen edged himself against the wall and began to blindly feel for a door or window of any kind. After a minute or so, Naruto felt his fingers move from concrete to glass: a window! He gave a fist pump and thanked the Gods. Perhaps they pitied him?

Naruto began to find his eyes adjusting to the darkening blackness of the 'Underground' and saw that there were no scary spikes or any other shenanigans popping out from the window. The blonde let his good hand feel the edge of the window and began to pry it open. To his luck and astonishment, the window slid open with a painful groan.

The Gods _were_ pitying him! Naruto squeezed his fist in happiness—when he would get home, he would have to offer 10 times more than he usually did.

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After breaking into the school (Naruto never thought he'd have to actually _break into _a school before; he usually tried escaping them), Naruto had stumbled into what looked to be the old school director's room.

Upon entering, the blonde threw his bag to the floor, grabbed any heavy furniture he could find and pressed it against the door. It was difficult with one hand, but he was so scared out of his mind, that Naruto suddenly gained unknowable strength. He then made quick work with the smaller furniture and create a miniature fort in the back corner of the room, away from the window he had bolted down and the door. Crawling into his fort, Naruto pulled out his bag and grabbed his lighter and a small bowl. He was too scared to eat, so instead of putting food into his bowl he picked off chunks of wood from the walls and furniture and threw them in. He set the wood on fire and placed his miniature fireplace in the middle of his small fort. He sat stiffly against the wall and stared at the bright flame in front of him.

This was not how he planned his trip to be.

Naruto had planned out that when he got to the 'Underground' he would parade to the Uchiha treasures, slay any monster in sight, bring back the gold, impress Sakura-chan, marry, and have snotty blonde or pink kids that would go on the same awesome adventure that their awesome father went on. End of story.

But now—now, everything was ruined. He was stuck in the 'Underground' with a creepy stalker who was whispering to Naruto every minute, he had probably broken his hand, and now he was too freaked out to eat.

Naruto slowly began to loosen up and crawled to his bag. He took out a small sleeping bag and sat on top it, bandaging his hurt hand. Honestly, what was he thinking when he had punched that rock? Naruto sighed and cut off the bandage with his teeth. He stared at his handiwork and muttered," If only Sakura-chan was here." He watched the bindings slide off a little. "She coulda made it look better."

With a long sigh, the tired blonde shifted into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. As he drifted off into his sleep, he couldn't help but think '_Where was that guy now? Is he really going to find me?'_ Naruto shift deeper into his bag and crawled into a ball. As his conscience began to fuzz, Naruto remembered two red orbs, spinning wildly in his mind.

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He groaned as felt his body crack and stretch out. He sat up and looked down at his small bowl. Naruto picked it up and heaved himself out of his hiding place, dumping the leftover ashes into a small hole in the corner of the room.

He could barely sleep last night. All he could think about was what would he do if the stranger began scratching away at the windows or door. At one point, Naruto felt like pissing in his pants from the mere thought of what the stranger with abnormal capabilities would do to silly Naruto.

Naruto combed his fingers through his spiky locks and slowly unbolted the window. Naruto slide the window open and stared at the dark sky. He saw that the sun was rising, but it was still to low to rise above the concrete wall in Konoha. Instead, a rosy blush of sky peeked over the wall and disappeared into the dark indigo sky. Naruto groaned and heaved himself up and out the window and trudged over to a small water spout. He twisted it with much effort and watched the cold water dribble into his waiting hands. He washed his face fervently, and slapped his cheeks several times. He needed to wake himself up quickly. He would half to leave the village and return to Kumogakure and recollect himself.

Naruto gradually edged back to the window, heaved himself back up, and slowly packed his things. He gave a loud yawn and looked down at his clothes. They were still okay—it's not like he had gone and slayed any demon to get his clothes dirty.

He groaned and twisted his back several times and sighed as his spine popped back into place. He took up his bag with a swish and shouldered it over his body. Jumping out the window, Naruto flipped his sky-board out and sluggishly whirled away from the school and decided that it would be awhile before he'd come back here.

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Naruto halted in front of the dark red building. He stared at the leftover barrel from his stupidity before and shook his head. From rolling a barrel to finding a stranger in a cave—he was going to have a hard time explaining it to the others on the case of why he wasn't bloody rich.

Naruto pocketed his hands and glided away. Though the trip had been a…disaster on his part, he now knew what to expect from the village of Konoha. The blonde nodded to himself and mumbled," At least I'll get away from that crazy dude in the cave." His mind flashbacked and Naruto shuddered at the image of the two white feet standing in front of the hole. He sighed and looked up, only to swerve suddenly and completely fall on his butt. Falling, he crashed into a stand of old knickknacks and knocked several of them over.

"W-who put that pole there?" Naruto grunted, as he rubbed his rear end. Due to his lack of attention to his surroundings, the teen almost crashed head first into a giant cable pole. The blonde pouted at the pole and grabbed his fallen board. He glanced at the stand and shook his head. He felt bad, but there wasn't anyone there to get mad at him about it.

As he was about to hop onto his board, Naruto heard a wheeze and a shuffle. The blonde spun around in fighting stance, to see an old hermit looking at him. Naruto blinked and thought _'why is there an old man here?'_

The old man, stood lean and straight. His snowy white hair covered most of his eyes except for the mouth and his dark clothes suggested to Naruto that the man must have just woken up.

"U-uhhh…" The old man looked at the blonde and pointed a thin finger," You." Naruto gulped. "Did you break my pots?" The teen bowed deeply and sputtered," I-it was an accident sir! I really didn't mean it! I mean… I t-thought there was no one still living here in the 'Underground'!" The old man straightened his back and coughed into a fist.

"How will you pay me back?" Naruto gave a 'huh', and the old man gave a full-toothed grin. He stuck out his hand and waved it in front of the teen," You know… compensation. You break, you buy?" Naruto bit his lip. He didn't really have anything of value, besides his sky-board, but other than that he was low on valuables.

"Uhm, I actually don't have anything…" The old man jutted his chin out and nodded to Naruto's sky-board," What about that?" Naruto held it defensively," I-I'm really sorry. I can't give this away." The old man lifted his head and replied," I see. Then what will you do?"

Naruto bit his lower lip. He was going to leave, as quickly as possible, but now he was stuck trying to barter with an old man! Crazy guy. Naruto tried again," Sir, I know I broke your pots and all, but I have to go." "Why so, boy?"

Naruto moved his arms animatedly," Because there's this really crazy dude trying to catch me!" The old man chuckled," Really?" Naruto nodded.

"Really."

The old man turned around and stretched his arms up to the sky. To Naruto, the old man looked pretty healthy to be living in the 'Underground.' Judging by the looks of his body (Uzumaki Naruto was **not** checking out an old guy), he must've been very handsome and tall (again, he was **not** checking out an old guy) when he was younger.

"You must do something for me because of this," the old man spoke out loud. Naruto bit his lip for the umpteenth time. God was so nice to him last night! Now he was being delayed! That crazy guy could come at any moment…! Naruto apologized again, but the old man lifted a hand, stopping the teen in mid-apology.

"To compensate, why don't you stick around here? I haven't had company in awhile." Naruto gulped—the worst request was made! "B-but I… I really need to leave…—"

"Hey kid, don't lie to me. You got nothing else to do, am I right," the older turned around, a pinky stuffed in his ear. Naruto flushed shamefully. _'Damn, these Konoha people are sure weird! First the guy in the cave, now this old timer. I gotta bail though— '_

"—name." Naruto looked up from his thoughts. The old man repeated himself," Your name?" Naruto stuttered," U-uzumaki Naruto!" There was an awkward silence between the man and Naruto. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and glanced else where. The old man snorted and sat down on a wooden bench next to the pottery stand," Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" He glanced at the blonde. "The name's Kasuse." Naruto gave a quick bow.

"Uhhm, so.. K-kasuse-san…" "I'll ask the questions here kid." Naruto shut his mouth and gave a look. The old man hmph'ed and then asked," Why're you out here in Konoha, kid?" Naruto shifted his weight onto his left leg," Uhhm.. I came looking for something." Kasuse turned his head to Naruto. "Like what?" Naruto scratched his head and muttered," It's kinda a secret, old timer." The white-haired snorted," Hey kid, remember. Compensation." Naruto made a noise close to disbelief and rebellion.

He looked down and replied," I'm lookin' for the Uchiha treasures…" The old man kept quiet again and scratched his stomach (_'The old guy's toned too? Really, Konoha people are so weird.'_). He turned his covered face to Naruto and chuckled," That it?" Naruto's mouth dropped. _''That it?' The hell! Doesn't this old timer realize how much money the Uchiha treasures are worth?'_ Naruto sputtered," D-do you know where it is?" Kasuse laughed (his laugh was a deep chuckle, Naruto noticed) and stood up, his hand on his hip.

"Say, since you've provided me a little company… Why don't I show you where the treasure is?" Naruto nearly dropped his board. The old man had to be insanely awesome or insanely stupid! But whatever the case, he was going to show Naruto where the treasure was, so it really didn't matter!

"R-really Kasuse-san?" The older chuckled deeply and folded his hands together in his black night shirt. He nodded towards the area that Naruto had just sped from. But Naruto hesitated.

Should he go back and most likely run into that crazy bastard? Or should he just leave and come back another time? Most likely the old man would be still here if he came back in a week… but…

"Are you coming or not, Naruto-_kun_?" Naruto gave a gulp and nodded, pocketing his sky-board away. He was already this close. He may as well go with the old man anyway.

There was a slim chance that the bastard would attack both Naruto and old Kasuse anyway.

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They arrived in another part of the village, but this time they arrived in a more formal part. From Naruto's point of view, it was almost as if his Japanese textbook had diarrhea and spewed out a picture of olden time houses. The rooftops were constructed with a deep black tiling and on nearly every door or window a small little red and white fan symbol was painted on.

Kasuse's voice floated to Naruto," This is the Uchiha residency." Naruto glanced and asked," Residency?" "But of course. Did you think the name 'Uchiha treasures' was just a name? It belonged to a royal family of Konoha." Naruto's mouth 'oh'-ed and looked back at the buildings. Suddenly Kasuse patted Naruto's shoulder and nodded him to follow him.

While they began to walk, Kasuse seemed to talk a whole new personality. He became more animated and spoke a lot more to Naruto then their initial meeting. "Here, was the commonery house. The servants would come and go from there all the time." Naruto nodded, but thought '_What does this have to do with the treasures?'_

Eventually, Kasuse had dragged Naruto deep within the village, to a large black-roofed home. Kasuse nodded," And here is the main hall. The main family lived here." Naruto looked up at the large door and saw a brown, tattered banner with the same symbol hanging on it. "Hey, Kasuse-san… That symbol…?" "Ah, that's the Uchiha symbol." Naruto nodded again and followed after the old man.

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The old man walked around the house and Naruto noticed that the way the old man lingered in a hallway or walked past a room, his body language seemed to say that he had been here before.

Naruto spoke up," Have you been here before?" Kasuse glanced back at the boy and chuckled again," Oh yes. Many, many times." Not only did Kasuse seem a little more animated, Naruto swore his white hair was suddenly spiking out in the back. But the teen shook the thought away, it could have been the wind.

Kasuse finally stopped in front a pair of twin sliding doors. He turned to Naruto and blasted another toothy-grin," Beyond these doors, is what you want." Naruto's eyes widened. He was about to thank him, but Kasuse cut him short," Since I brought you here, I need compensation also." Naruto stopped.

Of course. This guy was all about give and take. Naruto hummed and replied," How about I give you anything you want after we go in?" The grin grew bigger," Oh, that would be nice." Naruto nodded. With the amount of money Sakura-chan had estimated, Naruto could buy this old man all of Konoha if he wanted!

Naruto slowly opened the sliding door and saw that there was another in front. He frowned and stepped forward to open the next, and saw the same thing again. Naruto proceeded forward and grabbed hold of the next sliding door. '_Really! Just to show how rich they are, they make two rooms of nothingness to get to the real one? Geez. Konoha people so weird.' _And with that thought, Naruto pulled open the door to reveal, not a mountain of gold, but a dark and neat bedroom.

Naruto blinked. Where was the gold? The jewels? The diamonds and crowns? Where was all the riches that he had dreamt of? Naruto stepped inside and looked around. To his dismay, there was nothing. He clenched his good fist and was about to punch a wall when he heard a sharp _click._ Naruto turned around, only to have his chin grabbed and maneuvered to face away from the door, while a strong arm snaked around his waist.

"W-what the fuck! Who is this? K-kasuse-san?"

A deep chuckle rumbled from behind Naruto. Naruto blinked. "K-kasuse…san?" "It was quite… fun walking around here with you, little one. But I'm afraid the game is over." Sweat dripped down Naruto's forehead as he felt a familiar cold embrace his body.

"Y-you…" Naruto started," W-who are you…?"

"_Ahh, if only you listened to me the first time, dobe. It wouldn't have been much of a shock to you."_

Naruto froze. That whisper. He struggled against the tight embrace," Y-you bastard! H-how'd you find me?" Another chuckle.

"_I actually found you the moment you entered the school room."_

Naruto felt himself weak.

"_But it seemed like a good idea at the time to let you feel like you had escaped." _

He had been toyed with this whole time.

"_You were awfully cute, sleeping in such a small bag. I was almost tempted to rip you out from there and take you then." _Another chuckle. _"But that wouldn't have been fun."_

Naruto whispered quietly," S-so you lied to me?" _"Ah, but I didn't lie about everything, dobe. I only lied about being on old man." _

Naruto felt the arms left go and was suddenly pushed down to the bed. Naruto lay on the dusty bed without moving. This guy… _'T-this guy's a demon…?'_ Naruto didn't dare to look up. He counted the seconds and heard shuffling behind him.

"_Look at me_," commanded the whisper. Naruto kept still.

'_One, two, three…' _

"_Being disobedient I see? Well, I can't blame you. You came straight from the snake's den." _

'…_f-four, five, six—'_

A white hand gripped the tan chin and turned it. Naruto's gaze from the dusty bed sheets suddenly was ripped away and the blonde felt himself staring at an extremely good-looking man.

The white skinned man stood there, his lean body embraced by black clothing, and his black hair split in the center and spiked at the back. But the eyes, though they weren't red, they were still spinning.

Naruto kept still and looked down again, only to have his head turned forward. His captor gave him a handsome smirk.

"_You look absolutely… delicious, Naruto-kun."_ Naruto flushed at the comment. Dammit! Why was he making so many blunders lately? He should've just gone home! Naruto wretched his head away and looked down at the sheets. He felt the bed sink and saw that the man had pinned him down by trapping Naruto between his long white limbs. The blonde suddenly felt something messing with his hair and turned, only to be held down again. "Y-you bastard… Let me go…!"

"_Oh, but Naruto-kun. You promised to give me 'anything I wanted', if I showed you the treasure." _Naruto hissed back—the man was _sniffing_ his hair! "You showed me an empty room, bastard!"

"_But on the contrary."_ The man flipped Naruto over and held both his injured and good wrists within one cold hand (but the younger noticed an extreme amount of gentleness that was put into pinning him down). Struggling, the boy found that the pale man had placed a white knee atop his chest, preventing any serious struggle. Naruto bit out," But what, teme?"

Naruto watched the handsome man smirk and he replied," _You're looking right at the treasure, dobe."_

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**a/n: **Huhu, sorry it's a bit short compared to the other one. But yeah. **BUT SERIOUSLY. YOU GUYS ARE SO KIND IN REVIEWING ;_;**I never expected such a reaction to this plot line.

One of you asked me (Gaara'sLuver1) where I got this idea from. Honestly, I can tell you that I don't remember. This is an old story I found in my hard drive. But if you're asking because you want ideas, try expanding your reading. I read a lot of weird books when I was little and I researched the darnest things too. So I bet I had gotten this idea during a random google-search. Haha;

But anyway, I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little less qualtied compared to the other one. It's finals this week and I wanted to give you guys something for the abundant love that you guys gave me with chapter 1 (hahah, whut). THANK YOU AGAIN! oh and please do review ;w; I love reading them so much and it really will help me.

**backwards whispers: **yes, there were some whispers again. So I'll translate them here:

"_Iogng uyo rae ewerh?" _: "Where are you going?"

"_Uyo rewe I fi eeval doluwt'n I." _: "I wouldn't leave if I were you."

"_Em dendatsun odt'n uyo messe ti. Kapes uyo od guagelan tawh?" _: "It seems you don't understand me. What language do you speak?"

"_Guagelan kanes's manded atht kapes uyo, ha…" _: "Ah, you speak that damned snake's language…"

Oh, and by the way. Did you guys notice that Kasuse is Sasuke scrambled? Just pointin' that out.

**preview:** The stranger, or Sasuke, strikes another deal with Naruto. But this time, the deal is that Naruto must take Sasuke back to Kumogakure.


	3. Chapter 3

**copyright: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

**rating: **PG-13

**a/n:** I finished finals (only had 2, bwahhaha) so I sat in a café with some boba and udon. I ended up writing out half of chapter 3 fairly quickly. SEE? When you guys review, I feel super obligated to write more and more! Keke! So yeah, here's chapter 3!

-Underground-

**Flashback**

"_Hey Naruto-bro!" _

_The blonde looked up from his ragged textbook and muttered," Can't you see I'm busy Konohamaru? I'm studying!" The small brown haired shifted his weight onto his right leg," I know, I know." Konohamaru scratched his nose. "But can't ya play with me? Moegi and Udon are out of town."_

_Naruto grunted and waved his arms about," I'm really sorry Konohamaru. But I need to pass the entrance exam on Saturday!" The younger pouted," Can't you do that tomorrow?" "Tomorrow __**is**__ the test!" _

_Konohamaru sat himself down on Naruto's bed and groaned," Why is this test so important anyway, Naruto-bro?" The blonde sifted through his backpack and pulled out his notes._

"_There's this teacher at Shinobi High that I gotta meet."_

_Konohamaru lay quietly on the bed and snorted," A teacher? Why would you wanna talk to those kind of people?" Naruto flipped through his textbook tiredly. "Cuz I hafta." _

_The young boy frowned and sat up on the bad. He hmph-ed at Naruto's hunched-over figure and stood up at last, retorting," Ever since you got out of the hospital, all you've been doing is studying. What's wrong with you? You're as boring as Ebisu-sensei!" Naruto snapped back," If you have a problem, then get out." The brunette have a cry of frustration and stormed up to the door._

"'_Ey. Come back after I get into Shinobi High, Konohamaru."_

_Said boy paused and slowly grabbed the door handle. "You better teach me something cool the next time I stop by." And he opened the door and closed it quietly, leaving the blonde lost in his textbooks and notes._

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"_Ah-ahh, Sakura-chan, I don't know! Can't we just come back later," Naruto whined nervously. Sakura pulled his hand and strode confidently forward. The pink-haired girl gave a reassuring smile," Don't worry Naruto. You studied hard to get in." Naruto gave another whine and attempted to wiggle his captured hand away, only to receive a whap on the head and a lecture from the ex-president's granddaughter._

_The two approached Shinobi High, blending with the crowd of other nervous students. Sakura pulled out a small slip of paper with the number 043 printed on it. "Go with me first Naruto, and then we'll check if you got in." Naruto gave a sullen nod and was hauled away by his friend._

_They approached a board with dozens of shiny printed numbers on it. Sakura stood up on her toes and muttered her number over and over again. She stopped, smiled, and lowered herself to the ground. 'Of course Sakura-chan got in,'_ _Naruto thought. He stared at the number 043 at the top of the board. He mentally cringed. The list of numbers that showed whether a student passed the exam or not…it was so small! He had already witnessed many students stalk off the campus with tears in their eyes; Naruto only hoped that he wouldn't be like them._

"_C'mon Naruto. Let's look for your number!" Naruto felt a familiar hand grab his and was towed away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the number 118. Sakura finally stopped and pulled the paper out of his sweaty hands._

"_Aww, Sakura-chan! Let's just go, okay? We can grab a bite to eat. I'll even pay!" "Oh hush Naruto. Now let's see… 118… 118…" Naruto followed her gaze up to the board. He scanned the board slowly._

_112, 114—Naruto felt sweat beading at his forehead—116, 117—was that a stomachache coming on or just gas?—"Oh Naruto!"—118—"There it is! 118! You got in," Sakura beamed._

_Naruto blinked and then rubbed his eyes. Indeed, there was the number 118, printed neatly in front of him and on the board. He had passed… "I…" Naruto crushed the paper in his hands. "I passed!" He felt himself becoming giddy. He, Uzumaki Naruto, had gotten into one of the most prestigious high schools in all of Kumogakure: Shinobi Union High School! _

_Sakura patted his head proudly, saying," We'll be in the same school again." Naruto nodded," Just like in elementary school." The boy gave a grin. "But I'm a lot cooler now, Sakura-chan!" The girl snorted and rolled her eyes in response. The blonde was about to say another self-praising statement, when an ear-splitting shout bellowed behind them._

"_Sakura-saaan!" Both of the friends turned around and saw a flash of green. Within a split second, Naruto's view was obstructed by a large toothy grin and humongous eyebrows. "Oh, Lee-san," acknowledged Sakura. They proceeded to talk when Lee brought up the news about recruiting people for the Student Council. Sakura, the overachiever she was, nodded excitedly. She turned to Naruto and waved a finger at him," I'll be back, okay? Just stay here and don't cause any trouble."_

_Naruto hmph-ed and crossed his arms behind his head. The pinkette gave an apologetic smile and replied," I'll treat you to Ichiraku later. How's that?" Naruto grinned and immediately agreed._

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_As he watched her leave, Naruto turned away and began to walk around his soon-to-be school. Now that he passed, nothing would stop him from getting the info he needed. He took a left and entered the white building, staring at the trophies and awards hanging on the walls._

_It had been nearly a year since he had gotten out of the hospital: nearly a year since that guy's visit. With that tempting call for knowledge about the 'Underground', Naruto had studied hard for 12 months. He had to get into the same school as that old guy; otherwise he would never find him and learn about the 'Underground.'_

_Naruto proceeded down the hall, taking a right. Slowly, a door a few feet ahead propped open. A lab-coat-wearing teacher back stepped out of the room, dragging a cart of dissected frogs out with him. Naruto could hear the man muttering angrily at the disemboweled frogs. As the teacher stood up straight, Naruto noticed a familiar white head._

"_Ah! It's you!"_

_The professor turned and saw the nimble blonde suddenly standing in front of him. The man jumped back and was about to demand who the hell this kid was, when a familiar shade of blue blinked up at him._

"_Uzumaki… Naruto?" _

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_Jiraiya placed his cup down and glanced at the blonde. "So brat, how'd you end up walking around Shinobi High?" Naruto replied," I checked my results to see if I passed the entrance exam." He chewed his dango happily. Jiraiya smirked," So? Did you fail?" "Naah! I passed! Believe it," the blonde struck a pose._

_The professor chuckled," So you decided to look for me?" "Oh. That was an accident." Naruto swallowed his snack and nibble on the next stick. He stopped and looked at Jiraiya; the snack almost made him forget his mission._

"_Since we're here…" Naruto turned his whole body towards the older and pointed," Tell me what you know about the—MPHPHM!" Naruto felt the old man stuffed another dango stick into his mouth. He looked a little nervous. _

_Quickly, the teacher paid from the food and tea and Jiraiya signaled to the boy to follow him. Naruto gave one more chew on his dango and jumped after the white-haired. "H-hey, what's wrong?" Jiraiya turned to the left, Naruto following closely. _

_They ended up in a dark alley way ('Uhh, freaky…') where several doors decorated the sides of the walls. Naruto peeked ahead of Jiraiya's billow figure and saw that he was heading straight for a large metal door. Where in the world was thing guy going? He wasn't going to take Naruto as a sex trafficker or something right? Naruto gulped. _

_Jiraiya, on the other hand, reached into his white lab coat and pulled out a string of keys. Thumbing through it, he grabbed a small dull gray key and stopped in front of the metal door. "H-hey, where the heck are you taking me?" Jiraiya glanced back and then popped the key into the hole._

"_Somewhere where we can discuss your question, in private." Jiraiya turned the knob and Naruto heard a hollow click somewhere. The door slowly opened and Jiraiya pushed it forward. He stepped inside the room and flicked a switch on. Turning, Jiraiya directed Naruto inside with a nod of his white head. Naruto gave a squint at the slowly brightening room behind Jiraiya's figure. He swallowed again, shoved his hands down his pockets and tiptoed forward._

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Naruto gaped. The other's smirk widened.

'_This guy. The Uchiha treasures? The treasure that can supposedly buy __**two whole villages **__and still be a lot?'_

Naruto closed his mouth and glared darkly," You have got to be kidding me." Sasuke lifted himself a little higher and waved his free hand about. "I know you're surprised, but don't look at me with those eyes. I don't lie." Naruto growled," Don't fuck around bastard! I've been eyeing that treasure for nearly two years now! Suddenly you come around, prancing around as an old guy and then suddenly tell me that you're the Uchiha treasure?" Naruto struggled violently under his captor's knee and hand. "You fucker! As soon as I get loose, your 'treasures' are gunna get broken! Lemme go!"

"Now, now dobe. If you struggle any harder, your injured hand will get hurt even more." "Fuck that! Lemme go you bastard!" Sasuke's gaze lowered and he pressed down on Naruto's trapped wrists. The blonde let out a low hiss—_'I thought I only injured my hand? Now it's my wrist?'_ The Uchiha lifted his hand again and watched Naruto's struggle cease, another smug look adorning his white face. "Since that caught your attention, let's start over shall we?" Naruto glared. This guy was definitely crazy; no wonder he was thrown into a cave.

Naruto huffed and turned his head away. "I don't need to know you. All I need to know is you're a bastard—a teme!" Sasuke snorted and grabbed Naruto's chin, directing shocked blue eyes to his face. "Teme? Not so, little one. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. You should learn it well. You'll be screaming it eventually." Naruto's eyebrows shot down, disbelievingly.

Naruto snorted," So what? Now hurry up and let me go!" He struggled a little, kicking his legs in the air. Sasuke sighed; this whole 'seduce-attack-and-sex' plan wasn't working. It worked on girls, but the dark-haired found girls a tad… repulsive. The ebony gently lifted his hand and swiftly turned Naruto over. He flipped both of them onto the old bed and entangled the smaller one's legs between his own. He held Naruto's wrists behind his back with the same amount of gentleness from earlier. Using his other arm as a pillow for Naruto's head, Sasuke stared into blue eyes. Fire-y, blue eyes.

Naruto wiggled again. But this time, he found his legs immovable and his arms trapped. If he were to try and head bump the freak, Naruto was sure that something would go wrong. The blonde finally stilled and Sasuke smirked again.

"So, dobe, feeling comfy?" Naruto, or 'dobe', spat," Like hell." He gave another wiggle to prove his point. Sasuke snorted softly and scooted a bit forward, ignoring Naruto's quick protests. He rested his head on the blonde's and sighed. He hadn't been on a bed in years. It was comfortable, even though it was dirty.

"I swear, teme—" "Sasuke." "—whatever you're trying to do, I won't let you!" Sasuke sighed again. Why did the blonde have to be so noisy?

Sasuke was lucky that his first visitor in many years looked as cute as this one. He was lucky that the boy attempted to try and put up a good run against the Uchiha. He was even lucky that the boy lived up to his blonde standards and was a bit slow. Obviously, the Uchiha luck ran out when the blonde opened his mouth.

Sasuke attempted to close his eyes again, but Naruto gave another wiggle. This time, Sasuke grunted as his thigh moved over Naruto's pocket. He lifted his head and glared at the pocket. "Hey." Sasuke glanced down at the fuming blonde. "Hey." "What?"

Sasuke nodded to Naruto's pocket and replied," That thing. That board." Naruto furrowed his brow. He wasn't planning to try and strike a deal where Naruto would have to trade his sky-board for his freedom, right? Naruto slowly answered," Yeah… What about it?" Sasuke licked his dry lips. "What the hell is it?" Naruto smirked," For some high and mighty treasure that you say you are, you're a little slow with the modern times."

Sasuke glared at the obvious insult. Naruto snickered. _'If he's going to trap me, then I'll use my last weapon! The Pervy-Sage always said that my mouth and my annoyingness could kill someone.' _The ebony asked again," What is it?" Suddenly, Naruto caught an idea. "If I tell you, will you let me go?" Sasuke smoothly replied back," Sure. But if you run, I'll catch you and rape you till you're sore." Naruto flushed at his blunt answer.

Slowly, Sasuke allowed the blonde to hop off the dusty bed. Naruto patted himself of dirt (Sasuke stared intensely when Naruto patted his butt for dust) and turned around. He slowly pulled out his sky-board and let it expand in front of the dark-haired.

"This is a sky-board." Naruto held his expanded board under his arm with pride, continuing," In Kumogakure, these things can cost up to 500 yor, but my teacher got me this awesome board for free!" Naruto lifted his board up, grinning. Sasuke blinked. 500 yor? That was a lot of money. He gave a nod at Naruto's board and questioned," Your teacher… he must be rich. Is he your lover?" Naruto yelped in horror. "Me and that skirt chaser? Eww! No way!"

Sasuke blinked again. Skirt-chaser? This mysterious teacher sounded awfully familiar. Sasuke swung his legs off the bed and leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of his face. In a low voice, the dark haired responded," Your teacher… Does he have white hair?"

Naruto stopped. He never told that bastard how Jiraiya looked like. He scrunched his eyes and asked," Did you read my mind or something?" Sasuke snorted," No. I'm just asking. Does he have white hair?" Naruto pouted and leaned back. He shrunk his board again and stuffed it into his pocket. Naruto gave a quick nod.

Sasuke looked down and Naruto thought for a second the other was planning something, when he heard a soft chuckle. Sasuke continued to chuckle, his shoulders shaking. Naruto took a step backwards. "Hey, a-are you alright?" Suddenly, Sasuke's chuckling stopped and he looked up at Naruto with a full-blown smirk.

"His name is Jiraiya, am I right?"

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"_Woaah, this place is legit!" _

_Naruto looked around the room and saw that it was some sort of garage and living area. The room itself was fairly large—sorta like class room. Near Naruto, wooden work tables stood dirtily, metal pieces and wires sitting atop. At the back was a desk with large blueprints and books stacked on top of each other. There was a long piece of paper pinned on the wall that had, from where Naruto could see, a picture of a sleek board drawn on it._

_Jiraiya slipped off his lab coat and placed in on a chair, shouting," Hey, sit down kid." Naruto turned around and took a seat near the old man. Jiraiya sighed and tugged his shirt," So you wanna know about the 'Underground', eh?" Naruto nodded but then asked," But why wouldn't you talk about it outside?" Jiraiya cocked a brow at the young student. "Let's just say that we don't want to let the government hear our conversation." Naruto frowned," The government is spying on you?" Jiraiya leaned back._

"_Not just me kid. You, me… this whole village is being monitored 24/7 by the Premier and his lackies." Naruto bit his lower lip. "The Premier? Do you mean the President?" Jiraiya nodded," Same guy, different title." _

_The teacher grabbed a bottle nearby and opened it. He drank half of its contents and looked at Naruto. "If the President or any of his lackies heard us discussing about the 'Underground', we'll go missing." Naruto blinked. Missing? Why? He asked Jiraiya. The teacher shook his head and drank his water," I don't know exactly why, Naruto. But people have been missing lately. Some of them are dead." Jiraiya nodded to a wall with small cut out prints of the news. A larger one read," Morino Ibiki: Suicide or Murder?" _

"_Some of those guys, they were as nosy as you Naruto." Jiraiya gulped the rest of his water down. "So they 'apparently' get lost or commit suicide." Naruto felt his mouth go dry. "But…but I've been talking about the 'Underground' for a year. How come I'm not gone or dead or anything?" Jiraiya smirked," Luckily, Iruka-sensei took care of that problem, unknowingly." Jiraiya continued as he saw Naruto's confused look. "When you went to the hospital, Iruka kept telling the doctors that you had hit your head near one of the fences that separate Kumogakure from the 'Underground.' When you talk about the 'Underground', people think you're crazy and you got crazy from a head injury._

_I'm sitting here in front of you, because I know that the government doesn't see you as a threat. They think you're insane." _

_Naruto eyeballed Jiraiya. "People think I'm crazy?" Jiraiya nodded proudly. The blonde slapped his hands on both sides of his head," That isn't anything to nod at, sensei!" Jiraiya smirked," Oh, but it is." He stood up and walked to the far desk, Naruto trailing behind him._

_As they walked Jiraiya began to explain," This is my workshop. I'm actually very against the President and I've been working on ways to hold a coup." Jiraiya picked up a long metal pipe. "Unfortunately, they never seemed to catch fire." He set it down and continued walking. "So, I sat down for a long time, thinking 'how can I end our President's dictatorship'?" Jiraiya stopped at his desk and pulled out an old yellow-ed scroll. "I realized that I had to go back to the time when me and him were best buddies, playin' around in the 'Underground.'"_

_Jiraiya rolled open an old map. He pinned it next to the scroll with the board on it. "If you really did pass your exam, then you would know that Kumogakure wasn't always sky-high." Naruto nodded and continued," About 50 years ago, it was on ground floor: the 'Underground', right?" "Yes, very good. Then 50 years ago, we decided to leave the 'Underground.' The leader of Kumogakure at the time felt that because of the chaotic atmosphere there, they had to leave somewhere." "So they dug out their village and set it atop those giant metal poles."_

_Jiraiya nodded," So you did pass, eh?" He turned and looked at the map," During the construction of the poles, me and the President were quite close. Do you know the old president? Tsunade? Yeah, we were all close." Jiraiya pulled out another scroll, excitedly continuing," Since me and him were buddies before and all… I decided that the way to kick him off the throne was to go back to our roots." Jiraiya pinned up another scroll, this time of an odd red and white symbol, the actual shape of the symbol was distorted due to smudges. "He was always looking for something." The teacher glanced down at Naruto. "He always was looking for that symbol. But by the time he had even a slice of information, Kumogakure was in the sky."_

_Naruto looked up at the teacher," But what does this have to do with me? Why did you come find me?" Jiraiya smiled again and patted the young blonde's shoulder. "I need you to help me." Naruto backed up and quickly argued. "Woah, woah! I just wanted to know information about the 'Underground' and how to get there!" Jiraiya nodded," And I can give you all that! But you need to help me also." Jiraiya slapped his hand over the old map and replied," I can give you everything, but you have to be willing to help me too!" _

_Naruto looked down and bit his lip again. "I don't know sensei. I know the President's been bad, but to start a whole coup? That's suicide!" "I know it is. But if he ever finds what he's been looking for, then Kumogakure's screwed kiddo." Naruto glanced at the odd symbol then realized something._

"_How did you know I wanted to get to the 'Underground'?" Jiraiya sighed and replied," Iruka's an old student of mine. He's also in the know-how about this coup. Of course, when he heard about you talking about voices from the 'Underground' he immediately came here and begged for my help." Naruto stared hard at the yellow map. "Do you know anything about those voices?" _

_Jiraiya blinked and became quiet. He answered," I don't exactly know." Naruto's shoulders drooped. Jiraiya saw this and responded," But, if you go down there, you may find out." The blonde huffed," Yeah, if I __**could**__! The only things going down to the 'Underground' are those cargo ships." Jiraiya smirked. "Not just that."_

_He removed the map and distorted symbol and pointed at the picture. "Do you know what this is?" Naruto edged closer and looked at it. He stepped back and remarked," This is a picture of an old model of a sky-board!" Jiraiya nodded. "Sky-boards are notoriously known as the trouble maker's get away." Jiraiya walked back to the tables and lifted a box. "But sky-boards are extremely fun." He set the box down. "And can be used in the most surprising ways."_

_Jiraiya ripped open the box and pulled out a dull board. Naruto gaped," T-that's a Model-N! Those were taken off the shelf when kids started grinding across house roofs and other stuff." Jiraiya nodded," That's why this is the best sky-board out there. The current sky-board costs about 800 yor, but I bought this at a fair price of 500. I only bought this for one purpose." Jiraiya clicked on the power button and dropped the board. Before it hit the floor, it levitated and expanded before Naruto's eyes._

"_I figured that besides the cargo ships, that this baby could grind all the way down to the 'Underground.'" Naruto frowned," How?" _

_Jiraiya gave another smile," By using the stuff that the government made to keep us from the 'Underground.' We grind down the poles."_

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'_How did it get like this?'_ Naruto thought.

With Sasuke sticking as close to Naruto as possible, the two were now walking out of the Uchiha residency and heading back out to the poles. The morning sun had finally peaked over the concrete wall. But even the rays of sunshine couldn't warm Naruto.

He stole a glance at the handsome Uchiha and thought back to their conversation.

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**Flashback**

"_His name is Jiraiya, am I right?" _

_Naruto pointed a finger and accused the other of somehow reading his mind. Sasuke shook his black locks and stood up. He placed a hand over his chin and murmured," If Jiraiya's there, then he's also there…" _

_Naruto stamped his foot," How do you know the Pervy-Sage?" Sasuke chuckled at the nickname and replied," I just do." The blonde scrunched his nose in disbelief and replied hotly," I bet you only know him cuz he's one of the Legendary Sannin." Sasuke glanced at the blonde. He knew about the Legend of the Sannin too? Sasuke smirked._

"_Say, Naruto." Said boy looked up at and into two coal eyes. A fake-smile was drawn," Let's make a deal." _

_Naruto shook his head quickly," Oh, no, no, no! Making a deal with you always involves something that has to do with my virginity or my sky-board!" The other began to explain," But you may like this deal, Naruto." Another violent head shake. Sasuke hummed and replied," This deal has nothing to do with me having blissful sex with you—" "You bastard!" "—nor does it involve taking your little board." Naruto eyed the other suspiciously. "Then what?"_

"_Take me to Kumogakure and I won't take your virginity just yet." _

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It was a hard choice, really—his village or his virginity.

In the end, of course, Naruto decided that his virginity was worth it and struck a deal with the Uchiha. The blonde glanced at the taller. Although the two hadn't spoken since they left the Uchiha compound, Naruto felt like the Uchiha's spinning eyes were trying spinning off his clothes. So every time Naruto felt it, he glanced back, only to see the Uchiha looking at an old building in fascination, a smirk on his lips.

"Hey teme." Sasuke spared no glance. "Hey teme." "I have a name, dobe." "So? I have a name too." The dark-haired looked at Naruto hungrily," Is it 'Dinner'?" A blush. "Fuck off, teme." "Sasuke," the older corrected.

Naruto growled and stopped. Looking straight into his eyes, Naruto asked," Why the hell do you want me to take you Kumogakure?" Sasuke shrugged," There's no one here to play with."—The tanner felt a vein explode somewhere—"For real Sasuke. Why do I have to do this?"—A smirk—"Would you rather bend over then?" Naruto shot the man a glare and turned around in a huff. Talking to Sasuke was like talking to a wall—a very,_very_ horny wall.

Soon, the two walked again in silence: Sasuke staring, Naruto blushing.

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After walking for about an hour, the two took a stop in front of the red building. Naruto, with his hands in his pockets, watched Sasuke approached the door quietly. "Hey, what's in there?" Sasuke turned to the question. "It used to be an office for the leader of the village." He turned to look at it and muttered quietly," But I never remembered these spikes in the way."

Naruto peeked behind the Uchiha and cocked his head to the side. What did he say? Naruto wrapped his arms behind his head and sat on the bench from yesterday—'_It's already been a day?'_ The blonde followed the other's form as he approached the blonde and sat down, rubbing his eyes.

"Why'd we stop here, teme?" "Hn." Naruto rolled his eyes and responded," So are we done?" Sasuke stood up and walked away. Naruto blinked and followed the bastard again. _'Wonder what's on that guy's mind.'_ Naruto yawned. _'He looked like he was going to go in.' _Naruto glanced at Sasuke's back and looked down.

"Wha, why are you barefoot?" The older looked back and inspected his white feet, replying," Is it a problem?" Naruto blinked and turned away. Why had he suddenly worried for the other? He shook his head as an answer to Sasuke's question. The other paused a bit, turned around and continued walking.

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"You want me to WHAT?" Naruto stared at Sasuke, hovering mid-air and in front of the giant Konoha wall. Sasuke looked smug, again, and crossed his arms.

"Carry me."

Naruto flushed angrily," How the hell am I suppose to carry you?" Sasuke chuckled deeply," Or, I could always carry you." Naruto paused then laughed," You? On this?" The blonde pictured the other trying to even get on his board. "That's a knee-slapper, Sasuke!" The blonde continued to laugh but Sasuke only turned and looked at the wall. "Not on that. I'll carry you on my back."

Naruto stopped and looked at the other seriously. "What? How the heck could you carry me, and go up with wall?" Sasuke gave an all-knowing smirk. "I just can." Naruto rolled his eyes again and hovered up to the wall," Well, I'm not gunna ride on your back and I ain't gunna carry you." The blonde dug his heel into the board and a blue glow radiated under Naruto.

"So find another way up, teme!"

In a burst of light, Naruto zoomed up the wall, his goggles adorning over his eyes. He smirked to himself. He was so smart! There would be no way the bastard could get up the wall. Even if he did, Naruto reasoned, it would take him days, maybe weeks to figure out how. Naruto smiled: God was back to lovin' him!

"You're awfully slow, dobe."

Naruto swerved again and looked to his side, screaming," Sasuke! What the fuck?" He looked at the other's feet. His pale white feet had the same blue glow that pulsated from Naruto's board, but instead of letting Sasuke hover, it allowed him to stick to the wall. Naruto looked at the man disbelievingly," What the hell? Sasuke, how're you doing that?"

The other smirked, looked away and dashed up the wall, leaving behind a bewildered Naruto. The blonde gaped. So much for God loving him! God was suddenly favoring this guy! The blonde gritted his teeth. He crouched and zoomed forward, catching up to the Uchiha. The dark-haired smirked and asked," So what do you think of me now?" "You're still a teme!"

They blasted up the wall, shot up into the air, and blasted down it. Naruto smiled, secretly: no one had ever rivaled the blonde. And it was actually a bit fun. Naruto adjusted his goggles and glanced next to him.

Maybe God favored both of them?

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After attempting to outrace each other, the boys had found themselves suddenly in front of the poles. Naruto breathed hard while Sasuke wiped his forehead of sweat. Running and boarding through a dense forest wasn't a very swell idea.

Naruto folded his board and sat under the shade of a giant tree, fanning himself. Sasuke stood next to him, leaning about the tree and breathing hard.

"I'm too tired to grind up the poles." Sasuke snorted," Using that board should be easy. Why are you tired? I should be the one complaining." Naruto huffed," Using this requires skill and precision." The other gave snicker," Really? Cuz all I witnessed you doing back there was screaming and swerving." Naruto gave the other a dirty look and replied hotly," Teme! All that swerving requires work! Besides, I thought was gunna have a heart attack." "From screaming? I wonder how you'll fair when we sleep together later." "I am **not** sleeping with you!" Slowly, their argument faded and they sat there, listening to wind. Sasuke broke the silence at last.

"So if we're not going up these metal snakes, how are we getting to Kumogakure?" Naruto sighed," We could always bribe one of the workers at an air cargo base… But even then it's dangerous." Sasuke looked at the blonde. He asked Naruto what an air gargo base was. "Well, Kumogakure needs water and stuff, so the government gets it from the 'Underground.'" The blonde scratched his face," I saw one earlier when we running around."

Sasuke sighed and replied," What if they don't let us on?" "Then we go up the poles." "And if I don't want to?" Naruto shrugged. Suddenly he grinned and replied," Or we could punch the workers out and steal a cargo ship and fly there ourselves." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto got up and dusted his pants (with Sasuke watching). He stood back up onto his board and called," We should go now. We'll figure something out." Sasuke nodded and followed the boy quietly.

They soon arrived at the noisy base. There were a bunch of workers running around the smooth concrete runway, many of them hauling boxes back and forth into a large metal container. Naruto nodded to the container," If we could smuggle on one, we could just hop off at landing." He crouched down and observed the workers with a frown," But there's a whole bunch of workers. If we should go out there, they'll grab us and report us to the government." Sasuke looked at them.

"They should have low IQs, right?" Naruto glanced at the boy. "Well… only guys who are really crazy want to do this job." Sasuke smirked and stepped away from the trees they hid behind. Naruto yelped quietly. "O-oy! Teme! Get back here! Teme!" Sasuke stepped forward a few feet and then glanced at Naruto. Naruto froze and stayed quiet. The dark-haired turned around and walked up to the nearest worker.

Naruto ducked behind the tree and held his chest. When did Sasuke's eyes change colour? His eyes were black a minute ago, but then suddenly when he turned around… they were spinning red. Naruto gulped. What _was_ that Uchiha? He claimed to be the Uchiha treasure, but there was something off about his statement.

Sitting there, Naruto strained his ears to hear if Sasuke was beating them to crap or vice versa. Why was it so quiet? Surely there should have been a commotion at the Uchiha's arrival. Naruto glanced back to the cargo base, only to see two black eyes hovering in front of his face.

"Wha! Sasuke!" Naruto jumped back. The other chuckled and waved Naruto to follow. "Sasuke, Sasuke… W-what'd you do?" "They were quite… obedient when they saw me. They said that they'd let us go on and that wouldn't tell." Sasuke chuckled darkly.

Naruto passed by a worker and looked at the hunched figure. The blonde leaned down and glanced at the face: the worker was pale and looked like a little purple. His eyes though, they had a reddish-tinge. But unlike Sasuke's red eyes, they weren't spinning. In fact, the worker just looked dazed and confused.

Naruto hopped nervously forward, following Sasuke close. The two climbed into the large rectangle container and sat in the corner atop some crates. After what seemed like another hour had passed the two, the crate's door finally closed. Naruto felt something pick up the cargo and begin to ascend into the air. Naruto looked straight at the other. Sasuke must have fallen asleep at some point because he was limp against the metal wall. Naruto sighed. This guy was insane, Naruto concluded. From being a crazy guy in a cave, to a crazy guy who thinks he's treasure, to a crazy guy who can scare people… Konoha people must not have been very weird if they had thrown Sasuke in a cave. Naruto exhaled loudly again but looked closely at Sasuke. He blinked and saw on his neck 3 apostrophes. Naruto squinted in the low light.

3 apostrophes?—that was the sign of the President.

Naruto's eyes lowered. Why did this guy know the Pervy-Sage? Or how did he have a tattoo of the President's seal? The blonde stopped himself mid-thought. _'It's probably coincidence. I mean, Jiraiya is a Sage after all. The teme could have heard about him before getting put into that cave.'_

Naruto covered his mouth and yawned again. It could take about 30 minutes for them to actually get to Kumogakure, Naruto estimated. The blonde grinned slyly. "That gives me enough time to look around."

Naruto sat up and crawled down the large crates, squinting at the labels taped on them. He crawled and shifted between two elongated packages and saw a thinner one ahead of him. He squinted and looked at the tag. "Koo-sah-nah-gee?" Naruto mouthed the words again and repeated," Sword of Kusanagi?" The blonde frowned and fingered at the cloth that held the sword. As he began to peel the holdings, Naruto felt a cold sensation wash over him. Unlike the cold feeling Sasuke gave Naruto before, the feeling he had now was different. He couldn't put a finger on it, but the blond stopped and re-wrapped the sword again. _'Weird.'_ He thought. _'It felt like… the sword was saying something.'_

Naruto shrugged it off and looked around more. Needless to say, there was nothing else to look at so he climbed back up to the corner he started in and waited for the cargo to be put down. Eventually, the smaller boy copied the other and drifted off to sleep.

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"Hey, be careful! There's some expensive stuff that the President said was fragile!"

_**THUWMP.**_

Naruto sat up in a daze. "W-what, we're here?" Naruto glanced down and nearly screamed. "T-Teme!" The blonde hissed," G-get off me!" Sasuke opened his eyes, blinked and slowly sat up with a frown on his face. The dark-head stretched and muttered," If you acted like how you sleep, you'd probably be a lot cuter." Naruto stomped on the crate, exclaiming that he was a man and men were manly. Therefore, Naruto was not cute.

_**THUWMP.**_

The blonde looked around and concluded aloud. "I guess we're finally here." Sasuke stood up and slowly navigated his way down to the entrance of the crate. He turned to Naruto and whispered," Stay there." Naruto obliged, realizing that Sasuke was going to do something weird like earlier. It was best not to interfere.

Naruto stood up slowly and began to collect his bag and his sky-board. They were probably at the southern port, since most cargo was transported there. And if that was the case, then it would take him about 20 minutes to stop by Jiraiya's workshop, explain the situation, and dump Sasuke there. Then it would take another 20 minutes to get home, lock the doors, bolt the windows, and sleep with a knife.

Naruto nodded: he was a master of planning his future.

The blonde slid down the crates and waited near the door. In the middle of his thoughts, Sasuke must've slipped out of the container to deal with any problems outside. The blonde sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time. He spared another glance to the slightly open door. Soon, Naruto saw a slender white arm pop out of the crack. The hand waved for Naruto to approach it.

Naruto stepped out and looked around at the port. The large air ships that carried the metal cargo containers were all parked at the far end of the port. The South Port or SP laid at the base of a hill with long metal bridges extending out to the sky. The SP was quiet and Naruto wondered if that was because Sasuke had something to do with it.

Said boy was currently walking behind Naruto, as the two slowly climbed the hill to get back to the actually city. They crossed the street and Naruto forced the older to stop by a shop that sold clothing. He insisted that Sasuke at least have shoes. People would stare, Naruto said.

After their shopping, Naruto slowly directed Sasuke down the long alleyway. The walls were decorated with the same dirty doors while the metal door ahead of the two had stayed the same.

After all, it had only been 2 days since Naruto had visited.

The blonde reached into his bag and pulled out a small gray key. He inserted it into the key hole and a click echoed around them. Sasuke's bored expression changed quickly as Naruto slowly pushed the door open. "Hey, teme! Be respectful to the Pervy-Sage, okay?" Sasuke smirked handsomely. "I will."

Naruto huffed and waited for Sasuke to enter. Closing the door shut, Naruto shouted into the dark office," Hey Pervy-Sage! I'm back!" A click snapped somewhere and the lights fuzzed on. Naruto looked up and grinned at his teacher in the far back. Naruto turned to Sasuke," Stay here a minute, teme." The darker-haired watched as the boy disappeared beyond the numerous tables that stacked with junk. Suddenly there was a thud towards the back and Sasuke looked up to see small black eyes and a head of white hair. Sasuke lifted a hand and emotionlessly greeted," Long time, no see Jiraiya."

Jiraiya stood numb. He stared at the black-haired and muttered," I thought you were dead, Uchiha Sasuke."

**a/n: **Ahh, the quality! It just gets worse and worse each chapter, T_T! Thank you for reading this chapter of "Underground"! Please look forward to the next, okay? Thank you to all the reviewers again! Please continue to support and review, okay? Thanks dears!

**preview:** After meeting, Jiraiya and Sasuke have a chat. As Naruto heads home, he bumps into Sakura who says that her grandmother wants to see him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Copyright:** Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Rating: **PG-13

**A/N:** Hullo and welcome to the 4th (already?) chapter of "Underground"! I'm glad that many of you like it so much TT_TT! I adore you guys! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as you all have for the past 3~ so let's a-go-go-go!

-Underground-

_Clink_.

Jiraiya held up his sake cup and slowly sipped it, eyes focused on the Uchiha. The Uchiha looked back at him with a cold, mocking stare, lightly sipping his sake also. Jiraiya put his cup down and poured another ounce of alcohol into it before starting.

"Why are you alive?" Sasuke gave a mock gasp of disbelief," Jiraiya, I thought you cared." Jiraiya glowered at him. "You know I do. But Itachi—" Sasuke's eyes flashed red.

"Don't mention that bastard's name in front of me, Jiraiya."

The white-haired man kept a low gaze the dark Uchiha. He took a long slurp of the beverage and put the cup away from his mouth, sighing," It's been nearly 50 years since I saw you Sasuke. What happened to you?" Sasuke snorted and chewed on the edamame in front of him. He shrugged and replied," I got lost." Jiraiya frowned. "Seriously, Sasuke. What happened?" Sasuke leaned back into his chair and stared outside of Jiraiya's workshop window. He chewed the green vegetable in his mouth and swallowed.

"I got sealed away in the *Senjutsu Cave." Jiraiya looked at the pale boy disbelievingly. He stuttered," But the Senjutsu Cave—" "I know," the darker barked. He looked down at his palms and muttered," Why do you think I look like I just turned 18?" The older man was going to question why Sasuke looked like that, but if he had been sealed away in the Senjutsu Cave…well, that explained everything.

The Senjutsu Cave utilized the Sage Techniques and it referred to a specialized field of *Jutsu that allowed the user to sense and then gather the natural energy around a person. But the Cave, when sealed, trapped anyone inside and preserved their chakra, which in turn slowed the aging process in the body. After all, the aging cells in one's body relied on the chakra inside of a person. If the chakra was slowed, the body slowed. The cave was, technically, the fountain—room—of youth. At least, that's what Jiraiya remembered.

The teacher swirled the sake jug a little," How'd you end up in that place?" Sasuke shrugged, his fist clenched. "My memory of my last night outside in Konoha has gotten fuzzy. But I bet it was _him_." Sasuke spat out the last word with so much hate, that Jiraiya knew who he was talking about: Itachi.

"But Sasuke, he was out all night with the committee—" "Oh really?" Sasuke gave him a dark glare," Though my memory is fuzzy, I remember seeing the Sharingan." Jiraiya squinted at the other. The Sharingan wasn't something anyone could reproduce easily and Itachi and Sasuke were the only surviving Uchiha…so…

"So what happened after that?" Sasuke waved his hand," I spent 50 years in there. Nearly went mad after the 1st year, but after that I put myself in a coma." Jiraiya frowned. The young Uchiha did that? Just to keep himself from going mad? The white-haired put his cup down and laced his hands together," Why didn't you escape?" "You, more than anyone else, know that once a person is sealed, only a person possessing or has come in contact with the First's Necklace can only undo the seal." Jiraiya nodded; of course he knew that. The older nodded at Sasuke.

"How'd you get out then?" "You're awfully talky today, Jiraiya." "I haven't seen you in 50 years. If you hadn't been sealed in there, we'd be old men. You would be 10 years young than I, but we'd be old." Sasuke snorted," You're 70 now?" "Tsunade looks older." "Hmph. Big boobs?" "Still the same. But she figured out a way to keep herself young… kinda."

Jiraiya took another swig of the sake and stopped mid-gulp. He put his cup down and watched Sasuke pick apart the edamame. He gulped the last bit of beverage in his mouth and leaned forward whispering," How did you get out of that coma and how did you manage to leave, and come back? With Naruto no less?" Sasuke chewed lazily and answered," There was an earthquake about…2 years ago? I lost track. But there was an earthquake. Some rock must have dislodged itself from the roof and hit me on the head." "And…?" "Ah, that. The seal on the rock door broke on one corner, and the kid popped out of the hole."

Jiraiya sputtered," A crack in the sealed door? That's impossible. You said it yourself, Uchiha—only people that are wearing or have worn the Necklace can open it." A dark smirk graced Sasuke's face," That's why it's so interesting. The boy's cute too. Is he Minato's kid?" Jiraiya snarled and banged a fist on the wooden table," If you lay one hand on Naruto with any intention of hurting him, I swear Uchiha, I'll—" "What? Seal me away in that cave? Sorry _old timer,_ the door's been broken thanks to your blonde kid." Jiraiya glared," Why are you interested in him? Yeah, he's Minato's kid… But you were never interested in Minato either." Sasuke chuckled," I was 10, Jiraiya. Minato was 4 years older than I was. Of course I wasn't interested." "Then why are you after Naruto? Why did you come with Naruto?"

"He made me a deal." Jiraiya furrowed his brows together; a deal with an Uchiha was like signing away your life. The first deal would seem harmless, only to spiral out of control till the Uchihas took what they wanted and left. "What deal?" Sasuke shrugged. "Nothing big. We made a deal that if he wanted to have his virginity in tact he would bring me to Kumogakure—"

Sasuke moved his head to the right and narrowly missed the sake jug being thrown at him. It hit the other wall with a painful crack and the remaining alcohol dribbled down the wall.

"Don't fuck around with him, Sasuke!" "Ah, I see where he got such a colorful language." "Sasuke," Jiraiya roared. "Don't play with Naruto! If you do, I swear I will kill you!" Sasuke glared and stood up, hands buried in his pockets.

"Don't fuck with _me_, Jiraiya. I don't intend on 'using' him. So don't worry."

Sasuke spun around and walked to the door. He turned and stared at the back of the other's head. "Besides, it's your fault that the boy is now involved." Jiraiya turned around, staring at Sasuke with bewildered eyes.

"If I had hidden away from him and not told him that I was the treasure, he would have eventually gotten into the Mansion and found that actual treasure."

Sasuke turned and opened the door, walking away in the falling darkness.

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Naruto grumbled. '_How could Pervy-sage just kick me out like that?' _Naruto rubbed his injured arm with a pout. As soon as Jiraiya had laid eyes on Sasuke, Naruto suddenly found the white-haired man pushing him outside and locking the door, saying that the old man and Sasuke needed to 'catch up.'

The blonde fumed quietly, walking back to his apartment. He was gunna have to pay back Jiraiya the next time he saw him. And through payback, Naruto meant in the most humiliating way possible. Naruto turned a street and backed up. He nearly bumped into Sakura—just the person for his hand!

Sakura looked at him with wide jade eyes, before bopping him on the head. "Stupid Naruto! Where were you yesterday?" Naruto snickered," I went around, Sakura-chaan~! Don't be mad!" Sakura growled," You're lucky yesterday was a Friday. The teacher thought you ditched early for a 3 day weekend." "Nihihi!"

Sakura smiled, a little relieved, only to glare at the boy. "Naruto…" She began dangerously. She grabbed the boy's elbow and lifted up Naruto's poorly bandaged arm. "What is this?" Naruto chuckled nervously.

"I fell…?"

Sakura gasped in disbelief. She pointed to the expanded sky-board in Naruto's good hand and hissed," I told you not to play around when you're on those!" Sakura pinched the boy's ear and dragged him the opposite direction," You're going to see my Grandmother and get this checked!" Naruto howled and tried escaping from her death hold.

"No, no, no! If Baa-chan sees this, she'll flip!" "Of course she will! You look like you almost broke it! Besides…" She glanced back at Naruto. "She needed to talk to you yesterday." Sakura turned around and stomped back to her house and the onsens, Naruto dragging behind.

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"Lady Tsunade! I'm home, and I've brought Naruto!"

Naruto never understood why Sakura had to address her own grandmother as 'Lady Tsunade.' His pink-haired friend said that to her, Tsunade was more than a grandma, but a teacher and master… Naruto concluded to Sakura that Tsunade was more than a grandma to Naruto also: she was a 'Baa-chan' or an 'Old Hag.' "BAA-CHAN, GOT ANY FOOD HERE?" Naruto yipped in pain as Sakura slapped his head, hissing," Be respectful to my grandmother, you idiot!"

In the hallway leading into the house, there came a sound that sounded like a door being slammed. Stomping echoed the large home and Naruto could swear he could hear death coming from the same direction. He smiled nervously and glanced at his friend. She was currently sitting on the step of the entrance, slipping her shoes off and slipping on house slippers. She stood up and bowed to the hallway. As if on cue, an older lady stomped around a corner and grabbed the nearest thing to her.

It was a beautiful ancient urn that glowed pink against the older woman's skin. As it flew in the air, it sneakily aimed to destroy Naruto, only to miss. The beautiful urn nearly became beautiful ancient pieces of an urn, but luckily the wonderful Sakura decided to arise from her bow and gently catch the urn into her hands.

All Naruto saw was that the old lady had grabbed a pot, chucked it at the blonde at a speed of nearly 500 mph, and that his friend (wonderful, wonderful Sakura-chan) had snapped up in place and caught the pot in her hands.

"B-baa-chan! You nearly killed—" The proclaimed 'Baa-chan' or Tsunade shouted back at the blonde," Where the hell have you been? I requested your presence yesterday and all my granddaughter could tell me was that you played hookey!" Naruto whined," B-but Baa-chan…!" "Don't 'but' me Naruto!"

The older woman pulled at one of her dark blonde braids. She kept a firm glare at the blonde and ordered," Take off your shoes and get inside!" She turned to her granddaughter," Sakura, please bring some snacks and sake." Sakura bowed and went inside, turning a left into the kitchen. Naruto, on the other hand, attempted to remove one of his shoes with his only good hand. Tsunade cocked a delicate brow at the boy's attempts. Her brown eyes landed on the bandaged wrist and hand.

"Naruto… That hand…" "Ah, Baa-chan, I…I can explain." The ex-president sighed and shifted her grass-green robe over her shoulders and nodded," Just get in, brat." Naruto, taking this act of kindness, popped both shoes off and stumbled inside.

Tsunade gently lifted the injured wrist and sighed," What happened?" Naruto scratched his nose nervously and replied," Can I tell you later, Baa-chan?" Tsunade eyed him and turned around, an old kanji symbol for _'Gamble'_ on her back.

"Let's dress it up and explain over some snacks." "Ramen?" "No."

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Naruto grinned and ate the crackers in front of him. Thankfully, his wrist or hand weren't broken. They were just sore. With a mouthful of food, Naruto spewed," Sho why'd joo cawll me, Baa-chan?" Sakura slapped his arm lightly, reprimanding him to swallow. Tsunade sipped her tea and replied," First, tell me how you got that injury." Naruto flinched as he was about to take another bite.

With knowing eyes, Tsunade stared at the blonde and replied into her tea," You went under? Is that where you got hurt?" Naruto rubbed the back of his, looked down, and flushed. Tsunade continued," Did you end up near a place called Konoha?" Naruto nodded. Sakura looked quizzically at her friend and grandmother. She blinked and then howled," N-naruto! You went to the 'Underground'?" Naruto put both hands up to protect himself, nodding nervously.

Dammit! Why did women give off such a scary aura?

Tsunade sipped her tea and then put it down. She opted for the sake and grabbed the bottle. The old woman took a long gulp, straight from the bottle, before continuing," There was a building… Red… Did you see it?" Naruto gulped and answered quietly," Y-Yeah, I did… But I couldn't get in! There were these weird spikes juttin out of the doors and windows and stuff…" Tsunade stopped gulping and sighed. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked seriously at the blonde.

"If you go back there, don't get near that building ever again."

Naruto's eyes widened and he protested," Baa-chan! What if the Uchiha treasures are in there?" Tsunade looked at him firmly and repeated herself," Do not go near there."

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He slammed the door of his small apartment, a scowl plastered on his face. _'How could Baa-chan tell me not to go there? It's obviously where the __**real**__ treasure is!' _The blonde slipped off his shoes at the entryway and stomped around the house. Tsunade was no longer a threat to Naruto's well-being, so now the blonde began to concentrate on other matters: matters that dealt with a horny, dark-haired man.

Naruto clicked all the windows closed—almost decided to glue them down—and pulled the blinds down. He stormed to the bathroom; shut the door, the shower door, and the door to the toilet. Turning, he went to the shoe closet and shut that door too. Sasuke was weird. Therefore, Naruto concluded, Sasuke could appear through any door that he wanted.

The blonde walked into his kitchen and pulled out the biggest chopper that he had. It wouldn't be bad to be on the safe side. And the safe side slept with knives to protect themselves from problematic horny people, Naruto also concluded.

So, going about his usual activities (with the knife in his good hand) Naruto finished cleaning up and lay down to sleep. He peeked through the blinds and saw that the moon was pretty full that night. He pulled the blinds up a little and flicked his lights off. Sighing, he put his head onto the soft pillow and closed his eyes, ready to enter into his dreams.

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Jiraiya stared at his student's sleeping face and back at the other's. Jiraiya glared at Sasuke's content face. "Don't follow him anymore, Sasuke." Sasuke looked up from his gaze and looked into the serious face. He snorted," Don't tell me you followed me all the way here?"

Jiraiya glared. Tracking the dark-haired was annoying enough, but now he was being mocked! He turned and scowled," Get out of here, Sasuke. My threat still stands." Sasuke waved his hand and replied," I'm not going to go in, so don't worry." Sasuke turned around and nodded his head at Jiraiya," So you should go instead."

The older man growled and replied angrily," Don't push me Sasuke. I'm on edge from Tsunade's call about Naruto's injury," Jiraiya pointed a finger at Sasuke, hissing," Which you didn't tell me about." Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned around, looking back at the snoring boy.

"You didn't tell her about me, did you?" Jiraiya snorted," What would I say? 'Oh, Tsunade. Remember that little black-haired kid with the attitude that rivaled that guy's? Yeah, well guess what? He's alive and kickin it good. And not only did he retain his attitude, but he's got a hard-on for Naruto!' Should I have said that? No! I wouldn't be here, but instead lying in a bed at the hospital!" Sasuke snorted and shrugged.

"Just don't tell her that I'm back."

Jiraiya stared back at the dark-haired and sighed. _'Damn.'_ Jiraiya thought. '_Now I have to stay here so that the kid doesn't get raped._

_Fucking hornies.'_

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_Naruto looked up at a dark and damp ceiling. From the ceiling hung long strands of open pipes and broken chains that rattled in an invisible wind. Naruto looked around and took a step to the side. To his surprise, Naruto discovered that his feet and half of his calves were submerged in dark, but clear waters. The blonde looked around the vacant room and saw that the only lights were from candles that should have snuffed out from the cold wind. He turned around and saw a dark exit, the water disappearing through it._

_The boy gulped and muttered," I must be asleep." He looked around. "And this must be my dream." Another dry gulp. Naruto took a large inhale of cold air and started for the exit. 'If this is my dream, then all I gotta do is wake up.' Naruto walked through the exit and came to an open hallway with many more open rooms that the water had flooded into._

'_But this place feels like… It feels like there's something here for me.'_

_Naruto stepped into the middle of the hall and muttered," But where is it…?" He was about to turn to his left and enter the nearest opening, when a low laugh seeped through the dark walls._

"_**Ah-haa... A child…?"**_

_Naruto looked wildly around, his golden locks shaking. The water sputtered underneath Naruto's legs as the blonde began to slosh from opening to opening. Where was that voice coming from? The deep grumble seeped again,__**" Looking for trouble? Such a child, keke..!"**__ Naruto shouted back," I'm no child! Where are you? Who are you?" __**"If people could see this, they would wonder why a child would act this way in his own dreams. Why not wake up?"**__ Naruto growled and dragged his legs through the water, searching still. The deep noise came out as a cackle through the walls. __**"Foolish boy… Are you that interested in finding me?"**_

_Naruto peeked through a doorway, only to see the same room as the one from earlier. The laugh echoed around Naruto._

"_**If you're so interested, why not come through this door?"**_

_A light click and swish popped behind Naruto. The blonde spun around and saw another entrance, only this entrance had deep cracks starting from probably 5 feet from the door and then disappearing into the darkness. Naruto gave a nervous chuckle and slowly dragged his soaked legs through the water. The cackle mocked his sudden nervousness and Naruto couldn't agree anymore._

_Waddling slowly to the entrance, Naruto stood on cold legs. 'Whatever was talking… sounded really evil.' Naruto thought. He took a cold inhale through his nose and waded through the water and the entrance._

_As he passed through the doorway, Naruto looked around. The room was bigger, much, much bigger than the other room he had first landed in. Instead of seeing the ceiling, Naruto noted that all he saw was darkness. The dark orange flames on the sides of the room glowed in their small sockets, but their light was weak. Naruto looked in front of him and saw a large barred gate. Somewhere towards the middle of this gate, was a strange paper symbol that Naruto unknowingly recognized as 'Seal.' _

'_A seal? Why is it on there?'_

_Naruto moved forward, the water gasping at his sudden movement. The voice came again, but this time Naruto felt the booming laugh shake his own body,__**" Now that you're here… You seem awfully familiar."**__ Naruto rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, proudly boasting," Yeah? Well, I'm gunna be famous soon, so yeah. I'll seem familiar." The laugh howled and Naruto looked at the surface of the water._

_With every shaking laugh the voice made, the water rippled away from the barred gate. Naruto guessed that whoever was talking to him was behind the gate. Naruto gave a shaky smirk and replied," Ey! It ain't fair if you can see me, but I can't see you! Show yourself!" __**"Ahh… So eager to greet death face to face, hmm?"**__ A clanging echoed in the room and Naruto jumped back at the sight of long yellow-ish claws peaking from the open gaps of the gate. The claws gripped at the black bars and the water began to glow orange. Naruto took a step back and looked up. __**"Fine. I shall let you see. But only a little..."**__ Naruto felt the water starting to pull him forward towards the gate and the low cackle came again._

"_**Don't worry child. I won't shake you up so much..."**_

_Another cackle as the water pulled Naruto's feet from under him and dragged the blonde to the barred entry. Naruto slapped his hands into the water and attempted to grip onto anything to prevent himself from being sucked into the enclosed area. As he was pulled closer and closer to the cage, a numbing feeling scratched at his stomach till it burned. Naruto cried out and the voice chuckled deeply,__**" I see… Now it makes more sense who you are…! Kahaha…!"**__ Naruto looked up into the dark abyss behind the bars and saw two blood-shot crescents slowly opening. As the orbs fully opened, Naruto realized they were two giant eyes, staring greedily at the young blonde. Naruto gasped in horror and held up a wet hand in front of his face. _

"_**Soon, Uzumaki…! We shall introduce ourselves again, then…!"**_

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Naruto spiked straight up from his bed, his body clenched in a cold sweat. The blonde gripped at his aching stomach, breathing hard. He shook his head and leaped up from his bed, straight to the toilet. He sat in front of the white toilet and proceeded to hurl. '_Why does my stomach hurt so much…?'_

Naruto finally calmed his upset stomach, flushing the toilet groggily. The tan boy stood up on uneasy legs and washed his face, looking up into his reflection. He groaned and slapped a wet hand at the mirror. He gave a heavy sigh, muttering complaints about dreams and red eyes.

He walked up to the full-bodied mirror that hung on his room's door and lifted his shirt half-way up. He stared at the red sun tattoo and sighed. Other than the tattoo, there was nothing protruding from his belly. Said belly, though, grumbled unhappily. Naruto sighed and then an idea popped into his head. He turned around, forgetting about his hunger and proceeded to change quickly. He glanced at the clock: 12:34 PM. It was only Sunday, so he had time to check.

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Naruto shut the book with a disappointed sigh. He had tried to look up several key elements about his dream so as to interpret it. But in every book he looked up, red eyes weren't part of the agenda. There were red and sore eyes, there was pink eye, but no actual red-coloured eye.

Naruto pocketed his hands and strode out of the bookshop he had been in. He grumbled. Where was a fortune teller when he needed one? _'Obviously…red eyes have become a recent motif in my life at this point.'_

Naruto pouted and continued to walk down the long semi-empty streets. It was 3-ish and Naruto knew that many families were at home together. The blonde gave a sad smile. It sucked that his parents had died at such an early age, but at least he had his uncle, Iruka. The boy's stomach gave a groan of protest and the blonde chuckled, patting it affectionately. He cooed absent-mindedly to his body," I didn't feedja huh? Sorry~ But I'll make it up to you," the boy turned and stopped in front of a street restaurant," with Ichiraku!"

Old man Teuchi looked up and grinned," Naruto! Just the guy I was thinkin' about." The blonde rubbed his nose and ducked into the small vendor," Yo Gramps! I'll have the usual!" Teuchi gave another toothy grin and told the boy to wait for it. The small boy sat at one of the stools and sighed, his head in the palm of his hands.

A small chiming jingled behind Naruto. He turned around to gaze into light violet eyes. He grinned and patted the stool next to him, exclaiming," Neji! I haven't seen ya around!" The long-haired man gave a small smile and asked for an order of seafood ramen. Neji turned to Naruto and asked," So how are you?" The blonde grinned and crossed his arms proudly," Still the same awesome me!"

Neji chuckled lightly and then turned to see the shop owner setting down two cups and a water jug between the two. Naruto and Neji both thanked him and poured a glass for each other. Naruto took a large gulp and set the cup down carefully. He grinned and began to question the Hyuuga.

"So how's the intern stuff?" "Ah, that. It's… interesting, to say the least." Naruto huffed," Aww, that all you'll tell me?" Another chuckle and Neji replied smoothly," I can't tell you everything, Naruto. If you apply to be an intern at the government office, you have to sign this agreement to not talk about anything that goes on inside." Naruto whined again but ceased his questioning on that subject. The blonde, instead, moved onto another subject.

"Ya know how you're into all that destiny and fate stuff?" Neji put his cup down and looked at the blonde. "It's been years since I've been into that, but yes. Is there anything you'd like to know?" Naruto hummed and asked," What is the significance of red eyes?" Neji cocked a brow, wondering aloud," Why red eyes?" Naruto rubbed his neck and replied," I've been like… having dreams about it… And I met this guy too! He's super weird. Like, one moment his eyes are black, then the next, they're freaking red!"

Neji lowered his gaze, but the was interrupted by old man Teuchi's chuckle. "You two seem deep into your convo. Lemme just set these here and go to the back." Naruto whooped as his miso ramen was set in front of him and dug right in. Neji, though, still had thoughts about the 'red eyes' symbolism.

Halfway through their meals, Naruto reached over to take another sip of his water. But as he reached for his cup, the old mug gave a _snap_ and a rather large crack split into the middle of the cup. Naruto yelped and Neji frowned.

A broken tea cup was a bad omen.

Teuchi walked up to them and sighed," Ahh. I knew I should have replaced these darn cups! Don't worry about it Naruto. They were old." Naruto gave an embarrassed grin and allowed Teuchi to collect his cup and replace it with another. Naruto turned to Neji with the same grin and whispered," That was really freaky!" Neji turned and looked into his half-eaten bowl of ramen.

"Yes. Freaky."

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"Ah, Naruto."

The blonde turned around and blinked at the older boy's call. He tilted his head and shouted back," Yeah? Whut Neji?" The long-haired strode over to Naruto and looked down at confused blue eyes.

"Has someone been following you lately? Like that man with black and red eyes?" Naruto flinched and looked at the ground. Neji nodded and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Neji then advised," I think you should stay at someone's house for awhile."

The older one looked up and around the neighborhood. It was 5:30 PM, and the sun was starting to set. He looked back down at Naruto and took his hand off the orange shoulder. "Kumogakure's getting dangerous. Even if you do know how to sky-board and fight, Naruto…" The blonde gulped. "There's a chance that the man you told me about could be out to hurt you." Naruto nodded mentally,' _Yes, he is!'_

Naruto scratched his head and was about to reply that he didn't really know where else to stay, but then slapped a fist into an open palm. He grinned up at the other and replied," If you're so worried, then I'll just go to Kiba's house!" Neji nodded and pulled out a sleek phone, handing it to the blonde. Naruto typed his friend's number and waited for the ringing.

_Click! "Hullo?"_ Naruto greeted the other warmly," Kiba! It's Naruto!"

"_Oyy! Naruto! Dude, did you ditch on Friday or what? Ebisu was pissin' his pants!" _

"Naaaht even! Ey, can I sleep over at your place for awhile?"

"_Yeah, sure. My parents won't mind… But why the sudden sleepover?" _

"Just some stuff happened. I'll tell ya later."

"_Aiighht. I'll go pick you up then, okay?" _

"In an hour, then."

"_Cool, see you then. Bye!"_

Naruto said bye and hung up, handing the phone to Neji. He slide it back into his pants and then asked," You ditched?" Naruto grinned and lied," It was a Friday, man! I wanted a 3-day-weekend. Nihihi." Neji sighed and then rubbed the blonde head. He began walking away.

He stopped and glanced back, shouting," Be careful Naruto." The blonde gave one last grin and ran the opposite direction to his house, yelling back," I will! Believe it!"

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Naruto entered his apartment, humming. _'Neji's a freaking genius! I shoulda thought about sleeping over at someone's house earlier.'_ Naruto slipped his shoes off. '_Now, all I gotta do is grab my stuff and vamoose.' _

The blonde opened the door and was suddenly greeted by a pale white chest. Screaming, Naruto slapped the body away from him and skittered to his bed, grabbing the hidden chopper under his pillow.

"S-s-teme!" The dark-haired man rubbed his wet hair lazily. He looked at Naruto and gave a smirk," Ah, there you are honey. So what's for dinner?" Naruto snarled back," Your fucking balls, teme!" Sasuke tsk'ed and wiggled a finger in Naruto's direction," You still haven't learned respect, eh?" Naruto stomped," Respect? Does respect include using someone else's towel and shower without the owner knowing?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and then pulled at the black sweats that hung dangerously low on his hips," So who's are these?" "Nobody's! Now leave! I'm going to a friend's house and staying there!"

Sasuke rolled his black eyes and took a step forward. In a flash Naruto found the knife stabbed into the floor and his body laying on the bed, the pale Uchiha hovering over the other. "Back to where we started eh, usuratonkachi?" Naruto struggled and growled," Teme! Lemme go!"

Sasuke gave a slow blink and slowly brought his head down to the blonde's face. The smaller boy flushed red at the decreasing space between them, when Sasuke stopped. Their noses barely touched, but Sasuke's cool breathe ghosted over Naruto's face.

"Dobe… You're very tempting."

A dark flush and a wiggle. "T-teme, don't say weird stuff." Sasuke gave a soft smile (Naruto saw a dark, perverted smirk) and ruffled the blonde hair," Let's make another deal." Naruto gaped at the man and hissed," No virginity stuff!" The dark-haired nodded and breathe coolly on Naruto's face. Naruto felt his face heat up again and suddenly wished for the cool breathe to calm him down.

"Since you'll be out, let me stay here."

Naruto blinked. That was it? The other just wanted a place to stay? Naruto eyed the other man and asked," Nothing else? No weird comment or request." A light shake of the Uchiha's head. Naruto gave another look at the man and then slowly nodded," Fine. But you don't come looking for me when I'm at my friend's house." Sasuke gave another (dark, perverted) smile," I'll respect that request."

Naruto waited and waited. But Sasuke seemed quite content with hovering over the tan's face and gazing into his eyes. Naruto licked his lips nervously," U-uhh, Sasuke?" As Sasuke was about to reply, the two boys heard a pounding on the door.

"Oy, Naruto! You ready?"

Naruto wailed. He still hadn't packed! He pushed Sasuke up and ran to the door. He opened it and grinned at the brown-haired boy. He looked down and spotted his friend's rather large dog. Naruto bent down and rubbed the dog's head playfully, cooing," How's you Akamaruu?" Kiba rolled his eyes and asked again," Did you get your stuff?" Naruto stood up and grinned," Sorry, I just got back. Lemme go grab some stuff."

Naruto and Kiba both entered his apartment, while Kiba settled himself on the couch with his dog. Kiba flicked on the TV and called," Hurry up man! My mom's making something meaty at home!" Naruto shouted a response and slowly entered his room.

Pushing the door open, he expected to greet the pale bastard, only to see the room empty. Naruto huh'ed and shrugged. '_Musta went out.'_ The blonde quickly grabbed his uniform, school bag, and other necessities and raced back into the living room. The two spiky-haired boys grinned and Naruto flicked the lights off. Naruto settled down at the entrance and tied his shoes quickly.

The brunette then replied," Hurry man! I'm starving!" Naruto grinned and lugged his duffle bag onto his shoulder, before turning around. He nodded to Kiba to get a head start, telling the dog-boy that he needed to check if he had left anything unplugged. Kiba nodded and walked away with his dog.

Naruto looked back inside the now dark apartment and whispered," Teme. Key's in the mailbox on the door. Don't burn my apartment down, and don't go through my stuff." Naruto heard a chuckle and saw the pale man suddenly appear in front of him. He gave a tiny yelp and felt familiar white arms tugging him forward. Sasuke smirked down at the flushed boy.

"Since I agreed that I won't go looking for you, then you have to agree to this." Naruto looked up baffled and was about to argue back, when something soft planted itself onto his own lips. Naruto froze. '_T-this guy… he's…_

_Sasuke's kissing me…!'_

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**a/n: **Bhwhhbhawbahwbahw! I shall end it there for now –w-;! I stay up too late trying to type these chapters out. Kekeke… So since I gave you a new chapters, you must give me something too… You must give me a review (KEKEK; Did you notice that I tried to make an Uchiha-style deal?)!

Thanks for reading! Keep in touch for Chapter 5 later, okay minna-san?

*Senjustu Cave: btw, I nearly forgot to state this... But I gave a pretty impressive definition of it in the chapter... but it came straight from Naruto wikia. xD; The definition is from the article Senjutsu.

*Chakra: I know I didn't star it earlier, but chakra in this story will be a tad bit different than the Naruto plot. It'll be explained later.

*Jutsu: the same goes for jutsus. Just to fit the plot, the jutsus are different from Kishimoto's story. Will be explained later...!

**preview:** Mondays equal school, and school equals another day of learning. What? A substitute teacher? But who is it?


	5. Chapter 5

**Copyright:** Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.

**Rating:** PG-13

**A/N:** Sorry this came a late compared to the last 4 chapters. Stupid, stupid school. It won't let me live T_T! Ahh, enough of my complaining! Instead, lemme thank all you reviewers;) You go guys, hurhur. But… I have to apologize in advance. Some of you might be all," WTF!" when you read it, but yeah. You'll see… HERPDERP.

-Underground-

Now, many people thought Inuzuka Kiba was a bit of a dolt. And he didn't blame them. In fact, he told it to himself several times a day. But there was one thing he was good at: he had a damn good nose and a great pair of eyes. So when he saw Naruto, flushed and breathing hard, flopping down the stairs—well, Kiba knew something was up. He nodded to his faithful companion," Akamaru, I'll meet you back at home. I gotta talk to that idiot over there." The dog whined and threw its front paws up onto the brunette's chest. Akamaru pawed its master a bit before setting himself down and scampering back home.

Kiba turned to Naruto and looked straight at the boy. He curtly replied," Does checking your house make you look like shit?" Naruto gave the dog boy a dirty look and combed his hand through his hair. He muttered angrily," Nah, let's just go back to your place." Kiba cocked a brow. Naruto? Avoiding a fight?

Kiba retorted," Man, what's up with you? You call me and suddenly ask to sleep over, and now you come bounding down from your apartment building with a red face, messy hair and crumpled clothing." Naruto slapped at his clothes, attempting to make them look nicer. "What'd you do? Have a 3 minute wank with the lady next door?" Naruto howled and jumped his friend screaming," Shut up Kiba! Why the hell would that happen!"

"Didn't know you had such low stamina, Uzumaki!"

"Go stuff your face with dog food!"

They stopped their squabble and panted. Kiba grunted," But seriously, Naruto. Why do you look like shit?" "I bumped into someone." "And got laid?" "Fucker!"

Kiba hooted with laughter," The great Uzumaki! Cums in 3 minutes after penetration! God!" Naruto groaned.

Damn that bastard! He had no right to kiss him! Now his best friend was cracking jokes about sex and Naruto knew Kiba wouldn't forget this.

Naruto clutched his head, gripping golden locks. "I'll explain later, man. Let's just get going." The dog boy continued to crow with laughter, but they began to walk to his home.

break…

Naruto slurped down the warm broth and sighed. He put the bowl down and smiled at Kiba's mom. "Thanks Inuzuka-san! The soup was good." The older woman flexed an arm and replied proudly," Of course! I have to feed beasts like you all the time, so I'm used to this kind of labor." She turned to her son and bopped him lightly on the head," Wash the dishes! I'm gunna go sleep." She walked off leaving the two boys at the kitchen table.

Kiba slurped the rest of his soup and looked at his friend, who was currently playing with one of the Inuzuka's smaller pups. "You," Kiba began," what's been up?" Naruto looked at the brunette and sighed. He put down the small puppy and watched it scamper out of the kitchen.

Naruto rubbed his blonde head and muttered," Uh, well…" Naruto gave a quick look-around and leaned towards Kiba, whispering," Remember how I told you I'd get rich in a flash?" Kiba's eyes widened," You! You went without me?" The dog boy found himself leaning to Naruto too, whispering. Naruto scratched his head and laughed," Nihihi, I got impatient! That's why I was gone on Friday." Kiba's eyes squinted," And here I thought you were trying to pick up girls."

The blonde glared at his friend and then continued," Well… when I got under…" He paused and looked around. Looking back at his friend, Naruto knew he couldn't tell Kiba the truth. He had promised Sakura and Jiraiya after all. He fibbed," It was all just a bunch of trees and dirt. No town, no treasure, nobody!" Kiba's face looked shock," Foreal? No man's land?" "Mhm, so I went back up. But when I did and I was heading back, this… weirdo follows me! Like, stalking me and shit." Naruto scooted his chair forward and whispered," The guy even tried to 'do it' with me! The teme!" Kiba howled with laughter again," I knew it! You _are_ gay!"

Naruto hissed," Bisexual!" but Kiba continued to chuckle. Naruto began again," Well… the guy was following me, so I went to Ichiraku's and got some food. I was planning to tell old man Teuchi to help me, but I bumped into Neji who told me just to stay at someone's house for the mean time." Kiba huh-ed and sat back, arms crossed. He nodded at Naruto," So did you bump into him outside of your apartment?" Naruto bit his lip.

He couldn't exactly tell Kiba that the 'stranger' had grabbed him and then kissed him—Kiba would either flip a bone or die laughing. Naruto had a feeling it was the latter of the two.

He lied again," Yeah. Ya know how there's a stairwell like… 3 doors down? At the end of the hall? Yeah, I saw him starting to turn around so I freaked." Kiba shook his head and chuckled," Man, you attract the weirdest people—" "Like you." "—like that one dude… uhh, the guy that got fired in Freshman year." "Oh man! Mizuki?"

Naruto scowled at the name. Mizuki (Naruto never bothered to remember his full name) was the worse teacher that a kid could get. The silver-haired freak had a fetish for breaking people: mentally, physically, and emotionally. He was the PE teacher and when Kurenai-sensei left on maternity leave, he became the new psychology teacher. Poor Naruto had Mizuki twice a day after that. It was hell for the blonde, but in the end he exposed Mizuki trying to sexually harass one of the girls in his class and told Iruka. Mizuki was fired, arrested, and then disappeared. Naruto never heard about him again.

"That guy was crazy, not weird Kiba," Naruto reminded his friend. Kiba paused and then nodded in agreement. He stood up and tucked his chair in, collecting his bowl and cup. He moved over to Naruto and was about to collect his utensils and such, when Kiba took a whiff of the air around the blonde. He looked at Naruto and asked," You trying a new cologne?" Naruto twisted his face in confusion," What? No. I don't wear any of that crap." Kiba leaned down and sniffed Naruto's shoulder and stood back up again," Not even man. You smell." He picked up Naruto's bowl and stacked it atop of his own bowl. "It's not a bad smell, but it's different from your ramen odor." Naruto pinched his shirt and sniffed.

Indeed, it was a light smell, but it was there. Naruto squinted at his shirt and inhaled the smell. It really wasn't a bad smell, cuz the blonde kept inhaling its addicting aroma. But it was a foreign smell. He'd never smell something like it before. Naruto frowned.

Kiba nudged Naruto's chair and replied," Help me with the dishes! We can play some games after." Naruto turned and grinned, standing up to help his friend.

break…

Naruto threw himself onto the soft futon that Kiba's mom had put out. He grinned and snuggled into it. Kiba walked in and shook his head at his friend's happiness," You act like a 5 year old, dude." Naruto pouted and replied hotly," My bed's gotten smaller and stiffer. I was planning to buy a new one when I had gotten rich, but ya know." Kiba snorted and waved a hand at the futon," Take that one then. My mom has a whole bunch. For the guys that come over." "Oh yeah, you're mom's going on those blind dates, huh." "Those blind dates are disastrous on my health."

Naruto laughed and replied," But, seriously. I can bring this back?" Kiba sat on his bed and leaned back," Yeah, that futon was 'specially reserved for you Uzumaki." Naruto grinned again and snuggled into the white blanket," Thanks pal~" Kiba rolled his eyes and stood up, taking a hold of a string that hung from the light. "I'm turning it off, mmkay?" Naruto's ok-ed into his pillow.

The room filled with darkness and Naruto heard his friend slip under the sheets of his own bed. He heard Kiba muttering something to Akamaru, who lay next to its master. Naruto shook his head, _'That guy has me to talk to but likes to just talk to himself and animals. Weirdo.'_ Naruto shifted so as to have his back facing Kiba's direction.

He lightly touched his lips and shivered at the coldness of his own fingers. The bastard's cold aura must have stayed locked in his own fingertips, Naruto mused. He wrapped the blanket tighter around him and thought back to his apartment.

What was Sasuke doing?

He wasn't going through his stuff right?

He was okay, right?

Naruto blinked and rubbed his head. _'Dammit!'_ He cursed himself. _'That bastard kissed me on purpose! To think about him! That jerk!'_ Naruto flopped onto his stomach and quietly groaned into his pillow. He turned his head away and felt his fingers touching his lips again.

'…_Bastard…'_

break…

He opened the door again and trotted in. Naruto's apartment was a bit messy, but after seeing his own room after 50 years, Sasuke couldn't complain. He sat himself down onto the blonde's bed and inhaled deeply. It smelled like ramen. Sasuke frowned a bit at this revelation and decided to look around.

Naruto's apartment was actually pretty big. Sasuke figured, that the boy must be living with someone else. Who? Sasuke shrugged any answers away. The darker-haired slinked into the small kitchen and opened the fridge. He squinted at the lack of fresh food in there and shut it. Opening a pantry door, Sasuke scowled. _'Ramen, and a whole mess of it to boot.'_ Sasuke shut the door and grabbed himself an apple.

Munching on it, the Uchiha ventured down the hall and was about to take the left into Naruto's room when he spotted another door further down on the right. He sucked on the apple and trudged down the right. He stopped in front of the door. He glanced at the door handle and saw that Naruto hadn't gone down this way in years. There was a thick coating of dust on the knob. Sasuke looked straight at the door and remembered Naruto's threat not to look through his stuff. He gave a mental shrug.

But this room wasn't Naruto's 'stuff' right? It could have been someone else's.

Sasuke grasped the knob and turned. He entered a dark room and patted the dusty wall for a switch. He finally found one and flicked it on.

The light hazily blinked and Sasuke stared into a slightly larger room. The bed looked like it was just used, but the dust convinced the Uchiha otherwise. Near the bed, a desk stood by. The drawers on it were open slightly and there was a broken glass next to the foot of the chair nearby. As Sasuke neared the bed and desk, he noticed up close that on the bed were red smudges. He leaned in carefully and examined it: it was dried blood. He squinted and straightened up. Sasuke gave the room another look-about and then turned around.

Just as he was about to leave, Sasuke felt his foot step on something. He looked down and spied a picture frame on the dirty carpet. Picking it up, Sasuke patted the dust away and looked at the photograph. His eyes widened slightly as he stared into the face of a younger Naruto and a man that looked just like him.

'_Minato..?'_

Sasuke stared at the picture and saw that they were sitting next to a grave stone. The photo was blurry, so the name on the tomb was distorted. Sasuke squinted and then stood up. He set the photograph atop the dusty desk and turned around. Wordlessly, he walked out of the room and shut the door slowly. So Minato was Naruto's father. Naruto was here, but where was Minato? It was obvious that he hadn't been home in years.

Sasuke swept his dark locks with his hand. Well… it didn't matter now. Sasuke glanced at the clock: it was currently 11:48 PM. The Uchiha walked back to Naruto's room and opened the boy's closet. He sifted through the mess of clothes that were too small for the larger Uchiha. Sasuke grunted to himself," This guy's probably 2 sizes smaller than I am…" Sasuke paused and lifted up a jacket. He squinted at the size and mentally groaned. It was the only jacket in this house that fit Sasuke. But it was bloody orange.

He sighed in frustration and shoved his arms into the holes. Zipping the jacket all the way up to his chin, Sasuke turned around and walked out to the entrance of the apartment. He stuffed his bare feet into his newly bought shoes and walked out. He glanced at the mailbox and opened it, grabbing the small key. The dark-haired locked the house and stuffed the key into his pocket.

For a moment, Sasuke stood still and breathed in the cold night air. Even though the subject of Minato's disappearance and Naruto's appearance was certainly mystifying, Sasuke had bigger fish to fry. He walked up to the fence that separated the edge of the concrete walkway from a 3 floor drop. He stared out at the still-bright city lights of Kumogakure, scowling.

'_Where are you? Where did you hide my Kusanagi?'_

Break…

As soon as he woke up, Naruto knew that the day would be long and painful. It started with Akamaru. The gigantic dog (Kiba kept telling Naruto that the dog was actually still a puppy) had somehow trotted off Kiba's own bed and decided that Naruto would suffice as a mattress. Naruto did not appreciate having a hard time breathing under such a large dog. After that, Kiba decided to race the blonde to school, which resulted in Naruto tripping over untied shoelaces and into a pole. But what really made Naruto's day worse was that Jiraiya, who Naruto was planning to thoroughly interrogate, was absent. Instead an angry sub stood in front of the class, tapping her fingers across the wooden desk.

"Shut up and sit down, ya brats!"

Naruto thumped his head onto his desk. Every time Jiraiya was out, Tsunade would come in and sub. It wasn't surprising really to have her as a sub; she was a teacher at Shinobi High School before becoming the President.

Tsunade looked around the class and smacked a hand onto the board. "You brats get study hall. Uzumaki Naruto, step outside." A series of hushed whispers and an occasional 'ooo! Uzumaki! What'd you do this time?' echoed the classroom. Naruto groaned and navigated through the desks and to the door.

Tsunade shut it behind Naruto and looked at the other straight. She crossed her arms over her large chest and whispered," Your hand." Naruto glanced at his bandaged hand and asked slowly," Yeah… what about it?" Tsunade put out a manicured hand and answered," Let me see it one more time." Naruto shrugged and put his sore hand out, muttering," I don't see why you have to check it out again Baa-chan. You looked at it yesterday." Tsunade didn't answer.

Instead, Naruto felt a cold tingle-y feeling racing through his hand. It was like Sasuke's aura, but not as dark. Naruto looked at Tsunade's hand that rested atop Naruto's bandaged one. For a second, the blonde swore he saw a faint blue glow pulsing from the old President's fingertips.

Tsunade released his hand shortly and then undid the bandages. She looked at him seriously," Don't hurt yourself again, or I'll kill you." Naruto gulped but laughed it off," Whatever Baa-chan! If you kill me you'd regret it!" She snorted and gave his wrist another pat. The blonde blinked, his wrist and hand didn't hurt! "B-baa-chan! What'd you do? My hand feels better…!" Tsunade opened the door and replied," Pressure points, brat." There was a flash of worry in Tsunade's eyes, but Naruto couldn't see it as he walked back to his seat.

"Study quietly or I'll throw you out the window," roared the sub. She sat down at Jiraiya's desk and pulled a book from her bag. She opened it but didn't read a single word. Instead she looked out the window and stared at a small dark figure that stood on top of a nearby roof.

Break…

For Neji, Mondays meant that he had to go to the Government's Record Sorting Office (referred as the Recsorting Office). This 'duty' was part of a program that seniors went through. If you didn't do it, you didn't graduate. Every senior from any high school was put into this internment project.

The project was fairly new; it had been approved about 5 years ago by the current President. The speech he gave said that if the seniors or the 'adults of tomorrow' were to enter the workforce smoothly while supply the government much needed help, then the seniors of each high school would be enrolled as an intern in any of the government's offices. Neji happened to be assigned the closest one to his school, the Recsorting Office. Every Monday, Neji and his classmates were to go to the Office and help sort papers and file them in the correct boxes: there were three boxes that were provided, each differently labeled as either 'Engrave', 'Erase', or 'Expound'. Why they were named these, Neji could not ask.

The Recsorting Office itself was a dreary place that Neji tried to avoid when it wasn't Monday. It was a dimly lit building that was only bright at the front desk. Behind doors, the Office was a cave of mile-high paperwork and dust. The lack of light, from what the Director of the Recsorting Office said, was to conserve power. Neji questioned this mentally, but never spoke out. The Office was a mystery to everyone except those who worked there. Neji and any intern that worked there had to sign a contract stating that they would only put away files, not open or look. If they were to look inside, they were asked (and silently threatened) to not reveal the contents of any files. But people really didn't have a choice of not telling. Neji remembered that about a year ago, one of his upper-classmen had worked at the Recsorting also. The classmate told Neji that the faculty were a bunch of lunatics, itching to rat on anyone. The consequence of getting ratted out was that people were dragged away to a different room and then come back out after 10 minutes or so. It seemed like it wasn't anything to worry about, but the class-mate told the Hyuuga that the last time a person went into the office of the Director, he came out looking scared and confused. The faculty had even named this punishment: after a year, the Recsorting Office had finally dubbed this mysterious consequence as the Mind-Blasting. The name itself was enough to make interns and workers stand obedient and shut their mouths. Whatever this 'Mind-Blasting' was, Neji was sure that it was painful or it was somewhat a violation on their human rights. But again, Neji could not speak out against it. He had signed a contract at the beginning of his internment which spelled out each rule, regulation, or guideline out in a 200-page binding.

Neji remembered every rule because he had read each page, front and back.

As he approached the gray building, Neji stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Opening the door, he was greeted with a green flash and a bright smile. Neji forced a nervous grin," Gai-sensei." The green-shirt wearing man flashed a bright toothy smile," Ah! Neji! I just dropped off my son!" Neji nodded a little," I see. Then I shall go and see him then. I really must get to work." Gai thumbs-up-ed Neji and replied," Yes! I see that your youth is burning to get to work! WHAT A SPECTACULAR SHOW OF YOUTH TOWARDS YOUR GOVERNMENT!" Neji began to sweat: besides the cold atmosphere, Neji avoided the Recsorting Office in order to avoid Maito Gai.

Gai slapped his hand onto Neji's shoulder, shouting," You must come with me and Lee on our morning jogs some time, Neji!" Neji was about to decline politely as he would normally, but this Monday, Gai leaned down and whispered," We must take some time and talk, Neji." Gai stood up straight, flashed a grin and a pose. He squeezed Neji's shoulder one more time and jogged out the building, leaving a confused Hyuuga.

Neji glanced back at the door that his teacher had ran through; what did he mean by 'talk'? Besides that, Gai had been very serious. In the 4 years Neji had Gai as a teacher, he had never seen or heard the man being serious. The pale-eyed boy gave one long look at the door and turned around—perhaps he would join their jog next time.

Neji entered the back and saw a small hand wave from above a pile of files. He raised his hand up in recognition and sat next to one of his classmates, Tenten. The Chinese girl gave Neji a smile and pointed to a figure in a whirlwind of paperwork. Neji sighed. Of course Lee would be excited about his work; any type of work. Neji gave another sigh and took refuge next to a large pile of files near Tenten. He grabbed his own three boxes and slowly began to file.

He grabbed the first file and glanced at it. Across the brown covering, a large red ENGRAVE was stamped on. Neji put it down in the box and reached for a new file. ERASE. Neji's thoughts drifted. What did Gai-sensei mean? EXPOUND. There wasn't something serious going on, right? EXPOUND. Perhaps he should ask Lee later. EXPOUND. But was it safe to ask Lee? ERASE. He knew that people disappeared for their suspicious talk. He didn't want Lee or himself to disappear. EXPOUND. But things had become weird since yesterday. EXPOUND. Ever since Naruto told him about a stranger, Neji had been feeling like there was something wrong outside of Kumogakure. EXPOUND. _'Ah, that's right… Naruto had slept over at Kiba's.' _ERASE._ 'Maybe I should check up on Naruto after this.'_ ENGRAVE.

Break…

Neji jogged out of the building. It would take him 20 minutes to get to the high school, and school ended very soon. He turned a right and jogged down the quiet alleyway. Neji decided that he would first make sure Naruto was okay—another right—and then he would ask the blonde a few questions regarding the stranger—a left turn—the stranger had to do with Gai's sudden seriousness—a right—Neji could feel it.

He paused at an intersection and looked left and right. He crossed and saw the school's clock tower looming behind a white building. Neji jogged a little faster. Neji skipped over a pothole and made another left. The long-haired boy slowed down and glanced at his watch. '_Perfect.'_ Neji thought. '_There's still about 5 minutes left.'_ Neji soon slowed down to walking speed and spotted the entrance to his school. Instead of seeing the gate deserted, a dark figure stood in front of the gate, his hands stuffed into…

'_Isn't that Naruto's jacket?'_

The pale-eyed boy squinted at the figure's clothes. Indeed it was. Neji remembered seeing that jacket from a joint Christmas party at Sakura's home. The black and orange jacket was presented to Naruto by Jiraiya, who declared that that jacket made Naruto Jiraiya's pupil. It was too big for Naruto, at the time, so when Neji asked about the jacket the blonde replied that he put it at the bottom of his closet to use it later. But how was this guy wearing that jacket? There was only one of those around, Jiraiya had boasted. He had gotten it especially made for the blonde and his orange taste. Neji frowned and stopped in front of a large pole. Standing behind it, Neji observed the man carefully. His dark-hair spiked out at the back and even though he stood in profile, Neji could tell that the man had cold eyes.

Suddenly, Neji jumped, the bell piercing the air between Neji and the stranger. The long-haired, though startled, kept his eyes on the other man. He turned his back to Neji and walked forward. Neji's eyes flew open, '_Those are my jogging pants that I left at Naruto's house during that sleepover!' _Neji turned dark. This man had somehow gotten into Naruto's house—he had to be the mysterious stalker Naruto was talking about yesterday. Neji glanced at the windows of the school and saw students filling the halls. He looked back at the retreating back of the stranger and bit his lip.

Follow the stranger and question him? Or stay and wait for Naruto before asking about the stranger?

Neji stepped out of his hiding spot and began to walk speedily in the direction the other was going. As he neared the entrance, Neji noticed Tsunade walk out of the gate, turning the same direction that the stranger had gone.

As the figure turned a left and disappeared, so did Tsunade. Neji eyed the corner where they turned and jogged closer to it. Turning, he saw both the ex-President and the stalker disappear into the large forest behind their school. Neji glared hard at the forest. '_Should I really be following them?'_ Neji looked back at the school. He shook his head and then faced the empty road in front of him. '_No. Even I have my pride. I have to find out who this guy is… For Naruto's sake…'_

Break…

Tsunade stopped in the small clearing and folded her arms over her chest. She frowned at the boy in front of her.

"Sasuke."

He turned around and stared back indifferently. He raised a hand and replied," Long time, no see… Tsunade." The older woman glowered at the Uchiha and barked," What are you doing here?" Sasuke gave a low chuckle and replied," Somehow, everyone's been asking me that question." Tsunade growled a little, but Sasuke waved it off.

"How'd you find me? I knew you saw me during that one class period." Tsunade rolled her eyes and replied," Fool. I sensed your chakra hovering about Naruto's injury."

'_Of course.'_ Sasuke thought. '_She was a top-notch medic. Of course she could sense chakra.'_

Sasuke snorted," Well, what? If you're done stalking me, I'm looking for something." Tsunade didn't bat an eyelash but repeated," Your chakra. Was on Naruto's injury. On his _injury._" She stamped her foot and the ground below it smashed up. Sasuke flinched at the hole. How the hell had she gotten so strong? The darker looked back at Tsunade and responded," I didn't hurt Naruto, if that's what you're trying to get at. He was already like that by the time I found him."

Tsunade hissed," I don't have time to mess around here, but let me set this straight: you are not to tell Naruto anything." Sasuke gave her a look of slight confusion. Tsunade paused mid-rant after looking at his expression. Sasuke asked," What do you mean? Is there something I need to know about him?" Tsunade looked away and replied," No. It's better if you don't know." Sasuke glared menacingly at her.

"What is it that I should know about him, Tsunade?" She looked straight at him with a glare set in place," Sasuke. Did Naruto get near the Mansion?" '_Ah, that.'_ "Don't worry about that. The place had a seal on it." "It doesn't _matter_ if it has a seal, Sasuke. If Naruto had gone down there then—" "Kyuubi wouldn't have hurt him. He's still trapped," Sasuke cut in.

Tsunade looked away and muttered quietly to herself," You don't understand." Sasuke was about to ask when a sharp _snap_ alerted the two. They glanced around the area and then disappeared in a flash of smoke.

Break…

Neji cursed himself.

He had ended up taking refuge behind a tree near the clearing and had been eavesdropping on their conversation. Unfortunately the convo had been in some foreign language that even Neji hadn't heard of. And the boy was considered a genius! In lieu of this, he had tried to crawl a bit closer, but had only ended up snapping a nearby twig.

He looked back at the clearing and saw two poofs of smoke dissipating. "Wha—"

He felt a cold hand grab his neck and slam his body against the tree. Neji gasped for air, but found the cold hand closing dangerously. A shout knocked the hand away from his throat and Neji fell to the floor, gasping for air. He coughed and looked up at cold, dark eyes.

Sasuke looked down on the boy and stared. _'A Hyuuga? What is this boy doing here?'_ Neji glared up at the boy when Tsunade stepped between them," Sasuke, leave him." The spiky-haired looked at the woman and back at Neji. "You," his hissed lowly," don't try this kind of stunt again."

The Uchiha turned around but Tsunade grabbed the back of the jacket," Wait Sasuke. I still need to talk to you." She turned to Neji and bowed a little. "Sorry Neji. I'll explain to you later." She turned and followed the darker haired. Neji stayed splayed on the forest floor. He gripped his hand over where the man named 'Sasuke' had gripped at.

More questions flooded his brain, but he got up and slowly made his way back to the Hyuuga compound. Upon exiting the forest, Neji stopped and felt his neck again. He was dangerous, that man. Neji flushed angrily at his moment of weakness. He should have been more careful. But it didn't matter now. He began walking again. He would ask Tsunade later, but right now he needed to collect his bearings.

"Neji!" He turned and saw the two green-clad men jogging up to him. The pale-eyed suddenly remembered Gai's words. Neji nodded to the two as they slowed in front of him. Lee looked at him with bright eyes," Oh! Neji! Why were you coming out of the forest?" The other replied quietly," Training." "Oh! How superb! Just what I would expect from my rival!" Lee clenched a fist and his eyes burned with an unknown passion. Gai smiled down on the Hyuuga and asked," Would you like to jog with us, Neji?"

Neji paused. He was thinking about going home and sleeping off the rest of the day… but he was still curious.

"Sure."

Break…

Naruto exited the school building and stretched his arms up. Kiba followed close behind him and groaned," PE was a disaster today." Naruto snickered," Just cuz you lost and had to run those extra suicides. Don't be such a cow Kiba." The dog boy glared at the blonde as they proceeded to go to Kiba's house. Naruto stopped short though and clasped his head. "What's wrong?" Kiba asked. Naruto rubbed his face and replied muffled," I forgot to grab something at my place." Kiba looked at him and replied," I'll go ahead then. Just go get it and then meet back up at my house." Naruto nodded and jogged the other direction.

As he approached his apartment, Naruto slowed his pace. '_Augh! Sasuke-teme's probably in there still.'_ Naruto hardened his resolve. '_No, I have to get my dad's necklace. I promised to wear it all the time.'_ Naruto climbed the stairs slowly and stopped at the top of the stairs to his apartment. He glanced down the hall and blinked before roaring," Pervy Sage!"

The white-haired looked up at his student's enraged face. Naruto bellowed," Where the hell were you today, Pervy Sage? Tsunade-baa-chan was subbing!" Jiraiya chuckled and pulled out a sleek white sky-board.

"Let's go take a ride, okay?"

Break…

They sat on one of the *cloud piers at the edge of SP (South Port). Jiraiya snapped a popsicle into two and wordlessly handed his tired student one. They ate quietly and stared at the blue sky and white clouds. Jiraiya broke the silence.

"What did Konoha… what did it look like?" Naruto looked at his teacher and pulled the cold treat from his mouth. He hummed," It looked old." Jiraiya chuckled again and bit his popsicle. They sat in silence again, but Naruto ended it by asking," Where were you today?" Jiraiya glanced at his pupil again.

"I had some business to take care of."

"Oh." Naruto looked down at the clouds. "… You know… I bet Konoha was really pretty when there was people living there." Jiraiya smiled," Yeah. It was." Naruto gave a quick look at his teacher and asked," So why did you bring me out here? Usually when we're out here, you have something important to ask or say to me." The older man sighed and finished his snack. He replied quietly," It's almost that time of year, Naruto."

Naruto looked down again and mumbled a yeah. Jiraiya continued," Are you going to visit her this year or skip like last year?" Naruto defended himself," I visited her the day after!" He looked at his lap," I was busy, remember..?" Jiraiya sighed and replied," Make sure to bring some good offering sake. Kushina loved that stuff." Naruto nodded and fingered at a spot on his school pants.

"Say, Pervy Sage… What was my mom like?" The teacher put a hand to his chin and stroked it. "She," he began," was like a flaming pepper." Naruto grinned," Cuz of her red hair, right?" Jiraiya nodded," She was such a firecracker. But she grew up to be a beautiful woman. Your dad would always turn this odd shade of pink whenever she was around him. It was cute really." Naruto smiled at the thought. He had no recollection of his mother, but the stories that Tsunade or Jiraiya would tell him comforted him.

They sat again in silence until Jiraiya asked," Do you know why I insisted you to take your mother's name instead of your father's?" Naruto looked at him and shook his head. Jiraiya went on," Your mother… well, her family has had this long tradition of… protecting… this certain thing. The duty stayed with the males of the Uzumaki clan, but your mom is a woman so it was impossible for her to do it." Naruto blinked. This was the first time he heard about some duty that his Uzumaki-side had.

Jiraiya continued," I wanted you to take the Uzumaki title, because you're the first boy that was born after so long." Jiraiya turned to Naruto and added seriously," But this duty requires a lot out of you." Naruto eyed Jiraiya," What do you mean?" "Aren't you curious? About Sasuke in anyway? You two are connected through a system of complicated traditions." Naruto howled at the mention of the Uchiha," Pervy Sage! Don't even talk about him like that!" Jiraiya argued back," Naruto, listen to me. No matter how much you or I want to deny it, Sasuke is involved." The blonde bit back and then asked," How?"

Jiraiya rumbled on," As I said before… Your mom could not perform the Uzumaki tradition because of her gender. You, as the last heir to the Uzumaki lineage must fulfill it." Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and Naruto gasped," Pervy Sage! Where'd you get that? You know those are banned." Jiraiya shook his head," This is important Naruto." He placed it into the blonde's tan hands. "Read this, tonight when Kiba is asleep." Naruto held the scroll uncertainly in his hands.

"Pervy Sage, how am I connected with that teme? I just met him."

Jiraiya gave him a sad look and then sighed again. He pinched the bridge of his nose and kept quiet. Naruto bit his lip quietly and waited. At last the teacher looked back up and replied," Don't tell Tsunade about today." Naruto gulped. Jiraiya? Telling him not to let Tsunade know about their conversation? It must be very serious.

"She didn't want me to let you know about any of this, but you need to know." Jiraiya pulled out a small paper that had been folded and creased. He opened it and an old symbol was painted on it's white surface.

"Tell me Naruto… have you heard about the Kyuubi before?"

**A/N:** Huff huff. I'm so sorry guys. I wanted to add some more Sasuke and Naruto moments, but I needed to get some more of the plot out. Don't worry, there will be more of those moments.

Btw, did you guys figure out why I apologized at the beginning? Yeap. I made Tsunade the sub instead of Sasuke. It's not like I did that to throw you guys out on a loop, I did that cuz I had to! U_U!

But yeah. Sorry again for the lack of sasunaru-ness in this chapter… but I was dying to talk about Team Gai a little… I have a soft spot for them. HUUUKK. But yeah. I'll add more sasunaru stuff later, I PROMISE Dx

btw, I'm sorry this was a poor qualitied chapter T_T! I cranked this out at 3 in the morning and I wanted to upload it quickly. Huhuhuh;; I'm sorry ;_;!

Hopefully it doesn't stop you guys from reviewing! Please? I'll be so grateful…

*cloud pier: it's like a pier, but instead of being in the water, it extends itself from the mainland out into the clouds.

**preview:** Naruto has a flashback about another dark-haired man who he had met after his father's funeral. Meanwhile, Sasuke discovers something about Naruto.


	6. Chapter 6

**Copyright:** Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

**Rating: **PG-13

**A/N:** Hello~ And welcome to chapter 6 of Underground! Thank you to all those who have reviewed! I really especially appreciate the reviews where you guys took the time to critique me a little. Thanks everyone;) So let's get started, ne?

-Underground-

Chapter 6: Notes

Naruto stopped by a large cement gate and stared past it. Along the rows of dusty slabs, he knew which ones to go to. He had memorized it with his feet; he never thought of coming there—he was just always suddenly _there_.

He walked past numerous slabs, taking note of the well-kept ones to the dirtier ones. He knew that the two he would approach we neither kept nor ignored. Naruto paused and stepped down on a particularly crunchy-looking leaf. The crackle of the leaf broke the silence and Naruto felt a pressure inside him lift a little.

He gazed up at the slowly orange-ing sky and contemplated the time: could it have been almost 4:30 in the afternoon? Or perhaps it was setting to be 5:30? The blonde twisted his head and cracked the sore-ness out of it. He proceeded again.

He was a bit early this year (a week and 2 days, exactly) but it never hurt to come around more than once a year. He made a left and made a straight path towards two lone slabs. He slowed his pace and soon halted in the middle of the two. Naruto lowered himself to the ground and crossed his legs. Resting his head in his open hands that erected up from his knees, Naruto smiled a little.

"Hey dad. Hey mom."

Naruto looked down at the flowers that had barely bloomed between the tombstones. He gave a grin and spoke;" At least you're letting flowers grow from your remains." The grin grew bigger. "Fulfilling your good deed of the century, yeah?" The blonde inhaled deeply and lay back down into the green that grew between the two slabs. Wrapping his hands together behind his head, Naruto stared at the sky. It could have been 15 minutes since entering. The people who were in charge of patrolling this area knew him already. They usually left him alone if he stayed between his parents.

A small wind blew itself through his blonde hair. It was warm. Naruto suddenly thought of Sasuke: he was cold, but would he still be cold in this warm wind? Another sigh escaped from his nose. He slipped his hand into his pants pocket and produced a slip of paper. It was folded into a square and crumpled at the middle. Naruto lifted the paper up and unfolded it in front of his face. He slowly read it, though he already knew what was on it," Kyuu…bi…" He let his arm sink and the paper vanished from his view.

"_Kyuubi? Like that fairytale demon?"_

_Jiraiya nodded and tapped a large index finger on the paper," The Kyuubi. Well, all you need to know for now, Naruto, is that the Kyuubi is the key to win."_

Naruto echoed his teacher's words," Kyuubi is the key, huh?" He fingered the edge of the paper and began talking aloud to his parents. It was mostly directed to his dad right now because Naruto would tell his dad his guilt and thoughts. He would turn to his mother for advice. Turning to his side, he faced his father's tomb.

"Remember last year how I complained about Pervy-Sage not letting me do anything? Or how school's hard? Well right now I'm dealing with psychos and a demon." Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Ever since I met that guy—ever since I went down there, things have been weird." He flopped onto his back and turned to his mother, asking," What do you think I should do mom? Is it a bad sign?" Naruto paused. "A good sign?" Slowly, a warm wind pushed itself into the blonde's face. Naruto stared in dismay. He sat up and argued," But mom! Didn't you hear me tell dad about dealing with a crazy guy and a demon? How is this a good sign?" The wind blew a little harder this time and Naruto stood up. "Fine, fine," he muttered. Pouting, he stuffed his hands into his pockets," Thanks, you two." He looked up. It could have been 30 minutes upon entering. He turned his head back down and saluted," I'll keep your advice in mind, mom. Don't get your panties in a bundle, yeesh." He smiled and then turned to his father. He clapped his hands 3 times and bowed. Standing straight up again, he nodded goodbye to them.

break~~

"Yo Kiba! I'm back!" Naruto slipped his shoes off and pocketed his necklace. Sasuke hadn't been in his apartment when the blonde had dropped by to pick up the necklace. It was actually a bit of a relief for the smaller. He couldn't bear to look at that stoic pale face again!

"Kiba," Naruto called out. The house was dark. The tanned knew that Kiba's mom worked as a dog trainer during the night and usually Kiba was a coward when it came to being alone. The dog-boy would usually have all the lights on in his house and lock himself up into a room. Naruto trudged up the stairs and turned to Kiba's door. He knocked on it and then opened the door, yakking," 'ey dude! Are you oka.." Naruto stared into the room.

"Neji! Woah! Why're you at dog-breath's house?"

The stoic boy looked up from the game and smiled gently," Hello Naruto." Kiba growled and threw his game controller down. He bawled," Dammit Neji! I said spare me! Not obliterate me, _then_ spare me!" He turned to Naruto, an accusing finger pointed at him. "And you! Where were you? How could you let me mistake this lunatic for you? He beat our whole high score list!" Kiba flashed the television screen and Naruto howled," My 3rd place slot!"

The usually-stoic boy chuckled and sat back down calmly. "Want to try and earn it back?" The two spiking-haired boys roared at the challenge and sat down.

But after playing for nearly 3 hours, Kiba had been pummeled by his mother to start on his homework. Neji stood at the entrance and began to put his shoes back on. Naruto stood behind him, grinning from ear to ear. The blonde replied," Thanks Neji for coming over. You never really do this kind of stuff." Neji's smile fell a bit. Naruto rubbed his nose with his thumb and continued," Ya really gotta come and hang out with us more often." The pale-eyed nodded slowly.

He opened the door and was about to leave when he turned around. He motioned for Naruto to follow him outside, which the blonde did in a confused manner. As they both exited the warm home, Naruto perked up and asked," So what's up?" Neji turned around and looked at the other with a serious gaze. He replied," Don't let Kiba see that scroll in your bag. Remember, scrolls are considered obsolete." Naruto jumped. '_Really? He saw that inside my bag?'_ He bit his lip. '_Neji really can see through things...'_ Neji spoke out again," You need to be careful." Neji tossed Naruto a pleading look that screamed '_Don't screw around and act like an idiot.'_ Naruto rubbed his head and replied," I got this Neji." '_Can Neji see through people too?'_ Naruto looked at Neji as the other pulled out a small piece of paper ('_Why is everyone giving me so many notes today?')_ and wrote on it quickly. He slapped the message into Naruto's hand and popped open his sky-board. Neji hopped on and was about to ascend over the top of Kiba's house, when he looked down and called," Burn it when you're done!"

With that, the Hyuuga zoomed away, disappearing into the dark. Naruto stared at the disappearing figure and then looked at the message in his hand. Scrawled in the Hyuuga's perfect writing, Naruto read," Meet me tomorrow at Gai-sensei's class. Lunch." Naruto blinked and pocketed the note. '_Why does he want me to cross over to the senior section?' _Naruto shook his head and went back in. Making a detour to the kitchen stove, he lit the edge of the note on fire and scooped the ashes back into the trash.

~~Flashback

"_Today, we honor the memory of our beloved Namikaze Minato…" _

_Iruka glanced down at the small 7-year old. He furrowed his brows and bent down, rubbing the boy's arm gently. The 18-year-old student smiled," He lived a good life, Naruto. Now he can finally meet your mother." Naruto hic-ed and rubbed at the continuous stream of tears that fell from his blue eyes. The smaller blonde tottered up to his father's grave and put down the chrysanthemum onto the marble slab. He sniffed pathetically and stared at the grave with tears still pouring down. Unable to take the funeral any longer, he turned around and ran past the crowd, ignoring Iruka's frantic calls. _

_Half-blinded by tears and half-desperate for air, Naruto dashed into a secluded walkway near the burial site. He sat on the low fence and began to tear up. He whimpered," Daddy… Daddy…" over and over again, turning it into a mantra. Before long he sobbed pitifully out loud, not caring that someone probably could hear him._

_Through his tears, the young boy did not hear the approaching steps of an older man. It wasn't until the older had stopped in front of the boy and hummed to Naruto. "Oya? What's a big boy doing, crying his eyes out?" Naruto snapped his head up and rubbed his face fiercely. He croaked," Leave me alone!" The man chuckled and Naruto felt two large hands reach under his arms. The hands gently picked him up and set the boy down off the fence. Naruto sniffled and rubbed his eyes again. This stranger was so kind! He sniffed loudly and somehow a tissue had been procured and placed onto his nose. Kindly, the deep voice ordered Naruto to blow his nose, which Naruto did with a squawk._

_Naruto looked up to gaze at an older man, probably the same age as Iruka. His long flowing black hair was tied back, while the dark eyes gazed softly at him. Two long scars ('or wrinkles?' young Naruto thought) ran from near the inner edge of his eye down to his cheeks. A smile adorned his handsome face and the same strong hand that had lifted Naruto patted his head. _

_The smile opened and the man asked," Why are you all the way out here? Crying, no less? You're parents must be worried." Naruto felt tears well up into his eyes again and he hiccupped," M-my mommy died a long time ago… a-and my d-daddy was buried t-today…" He rubbed his tan arm roughly over his eyes again._

_Naruto heard the man sigh sadly and a rustle was heard. Naruto opened his eyes and saw a steamy Takoyaki being held in his face. Confused, the blonde took the warm, fish-shaped treat into his hands and looked at the man. The man nodded and said," Go ahead and have that, alright? Make sure to go find your guardian, okay?"_

_With a graceful turn, the other slowly walked off. Naruto, still confused, stared at the fish. He blinked and looked at the slow retreating back of the kind stranger. Without really understanding it, Naruto waddled behind the man. The man must have heard his small sniffles, for he slowed down and eventually came to a stop, waiting for the young blonde to catch up._

_Naruto, as soon as he reached the man, grabbed the edge of the older's black shirt and slowly consumed the takoyaki. Without even looking up, Naruto muttered," You look kinda lonely, mister." He chewed quietly, his grip not allowing the black cloth to escape. The man looked surprised at the boy, but then gave a small smile. "You remind me of my little brother, when he was still a child."_

_He bent down on his knee, so as to be eye-level with the blue-eyed boy. Naruto, still holding his takoyaki with one hand and chewing it, held out his other small and chubby hand. He murmured," 'm Naruto." The man gave another soft smile and took the tiny hand into his bigger one._

"_I'm Itachi."_

break~~

Naruto groaned and sat up. Looking down at his lap, he stared at the giant white dog. He groaned and pushed the dog a little and lay back down. It was nearly midnight and he could hear Kiba muttering. '_Probably sleep-talking again.'_ Naruto glanced at the dog again and moaned," Gerroff Akamaru!" Pushing the dog a little again, the dog opened a sleepy eye and snorted. It got up and slumped over to its master, who immediately hugged the beast. Naruto sighed.

He turned his head to his backpack and saw the tip of the scroll poking out of his bag. Naruto rubbed his stomach under his shirt and exhaled loudly. He shuffled to his side and reached out and grabbed the scroll. "_Snore..!"_ Naruto flipped onto his stomach and hid his face into his pillow, faking sleep. He glanced up at the dog boy and crawled up to the bed. He put his head up a bit and stared at his friend. He eyed the boy and then sunk back under. Slowly, Naruto moved back to his backpack. He snatched the scroll and threw himself and the scroll under the futon covers.

He flipped on his phone and slowly ripped open the scroll binding. He squinted and lifted his head back. '_What is this?'_ Instead of the written _*Oro_, the scroll was in some other language. Naruto gaped openly. What was Jiraiya thinking? Naruto flashed his phone over it again and groaned. There wasn't anything he could understand. All of it was in that unknown writing. If Naruto had to guess, it was probably the same language the Sasuke had been speaking in when they first met. Naruto snapped the scroll close and then flipped over onto his stomach, slipping the document deep into his backpack. He sighed again for the millionth time that night and rubbed his face into the pillow.

'_There's no point in staying up now. All I can do is sleep.'_

With that Naruto gave a loud yawn and drifted off to sleep.

break~~

_Naruto yawned and entered the kitchen. He blinked and then broke out into a grin," Iruka-sensei!" The brown-haired teacher looked up at the sound of his name. He smiled lightly at the blonde's happy outburst and hugged the approaching the blonde body. "Hello Naruto," Iruka laughed. _

_Naruto grinned and let go of his uncle-teacher," So why're you here , Iruka-sensei?" The brown-haired hummed," I'm here to make sure that you eat a healthy breakfast." The guardian nodded to the various ramen cups scattered about the kitchen table. The blonde grinned from ear to ear and chuckle," But I love ramen!" "A little too much."_

_The brown-haired placed a plate of toast, eggs, and sausage onto the table, along with a glass of (un-expired) milk. Naruto's already face-splitting grin grew larger as he sat down and consumed his breakfast. Across the table, Iruka flipped open an info disk player and snapped the news on. Naruto heard the other hum a little before another click. This time his guardian gave a much more concerned hum. _

_Naruto's eyes flickered up at the worried face of his uncle. "What up, Iruka-sensei?" The said teacher looked at Naruto and replied," Apparently the government is going to create a new village." Naruto cocked his head to the side and asked," Why are you so concerned about it then?" Iruka rubbed his chin in thought and answered," Well, for one thing, taxes go up. I mean, constructing a new village takes money Naruto! The government is going to tax all of us to death." A frown marred the dark-skinned face and Naruto rolled his eyes," Taxes, smaxes. Just don't pay it, Iruka-sensei!" Iruka hit Naruto on the head lightly and reprimanded," I'd get arrested eventually, kiddo. Besides, you're only 10. You don't understand the world of adults yet Naruto." "Fooey. I know a lot Iruka-sensei. Anyway, besides taxes, why dontchu like that they're making a new village?"_

"_The fact that the news says that the village is not being created for the people, but for the Premier." Naruto frowned. "It'll be the President's village?" A nod came from Iruka. "Using our money to build himself a throne… How thoughtless."_

_Naruto stared at the worried teacher and gulped his milk down. "Aw shucks, Iruka-sensei! Don't get so down on that! Why don't I ditch school and hang out with you?" Another hit on the head was Naruto's answer. "You'd better hurry up, Naruto. You'll be late." Naruto grinned and stuffed his half eaten toast into his mouth. Grabbing his bag, he ran out the door bidding the teacher farewell._

break~~

"_Hey, lookie here." Naruto gripped his backpack straps and looked down. In blind attempt to walk past the school bullies, Naruto turned around and began to walk back when a hand reached out. The forceful hand grabbed the boy's bag and threw him down. Naruto huffed and kicked the attacker away, only to have his leg be stomped on by two others._

_Naruto bit out," Three against one is totally uncool.." A cackle was heard and a boy with dark brown hair squatted down, hissing," The little 'Underground-demon', trying to be cool?" Naruto felt a sharp pain in his back and let out a cough. _

"_Get real, monster." A girl's voice rang out and snickered," The only thing that's cool is beating up a monster like you." The third's voice rang out with amusement," Like in the comic books!" Naruto clutched his head and then swung his foot around. His swing knocked against the girl's and the other boy's legs, forcing them to the ground. With another useless attempt, Naruto jumped up and tried to run, only to have their brown-haired leader grab his hair and toss him into a fence._

_Naruto gripped the fence links and looked past it. How did they suddenly get near the edge of the floating island? The blonde tried to push himself away from the fence only to have it being pressed harder into the metal. The strong grip had returned to clamp on his head, and Naruto thought that the boy was probably even planning to rip it out too. The brown-haired boy's voice gave a low warning," Try that stunt again. I dare you runt." _

_Naruto growled and pushed up against the metal fence only to be shoved back into it. "See that, you freak? Beyond this puny little fence, is your home." Naruto spat back," The fuck it ain't!" Instead of a rude reply, Naruto received a jab to the head, causing him to see stars. The other continued," Don't you think you should go home now?"_

_Naruto sputtered out unevenly," You... bastard… Why don't I…-cough-… throw you down there instead?" The boy sighed, as if he was talking to a stupid kid. "No, no," he explained. "Only demons like you belong there." _

_With that, Naruto felt heard a click to the right of him. His eyes darted to see that the girl had somehow unlocked one of the gates. 'These freaking fences! Of all things to have, they have gates!' Naruto's mind screamed out. He struggled helplessly against the bully's dragging, but jabs to the back of his head and neck were enough to bring him right near the open edge. The girl sniggered," Hey, hey. He's scared, he's scared!" "I thought this brat wanted to go there. Must be a pussy-ass after all." Naruto felt panicky. If he was thrown off the edge of the island, there was probably a rare chance in hell that he could survive the fall. _

_A very, very rare chance in heaven and hell._

_Naruto dug the balls of his feet into the dirt and attempted to stop the pushing, only to have the girl kick at his injured leg and make him collapse. Naruto fell down, his torso and head leaning dangerously off the edge of the island. He heard laughing behind him and felt a kick to his weaker leg. Naruto hissed, but clung desperately to both the gate and the dirt edge._

'_Please, anyone—anyone! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!'_

_Naruto felt a kick to his arm that was fastened to the gate. He bit his lip and held his cries._

'_I can't die here! I can't die!'_

_Another kick to his leg and arm._

'_Please, someone, anyone—anything!'_

'_**Oh?'**_

_Naruto's eyes opened wide._

'_Who-who?'_

'_**Do you want help?' **_

'_Yes, please! Anything, I'll do anything!'_

_Naruto gripped harder. The bully trio began to shower his back with bruises and kicks._

'_**Heh, three on one? Only weaklings try to kill a single person in numbers.'**_

_Another kick to Naruto's arm and his back made the grip loosen slightly._

'_**Hey boy. Lemme give you a demonstration on Chakra, hmm?'**_

'_C-chak…ra?'_

_Naruto felt his body grow hot. His arm, which had previously felt like it was broken, gripped the chain-link fence with a sudden strength. His injured leg felt like it was a strong as a 100-year-old tree. _

'_**Boy. All you need to do is imagine those damned faces in your mind, don't close your eyes.'**_

_Naruto obeyed the hidden voice. Who or where it came from didn't matter to him—he needed to get out of there and run home._

'_**Now, imagine them falling backwards. Think—a gust of wind perhaps? You may even want to imagine drawing the gust blowing them back.'**_

'_Wind, huh?' Naruto felt the wind under his body flapping his hair about. 'S'alls I gotta do is imagine wind blowing them…' Naruto heard a yelp and a scream behind him '…away?'_

_He turned back and saw exactly what he had seen in his mind. __**'Chakra…'**__ rumbled the unknown voice, __**'…is found in everything in the world.'**__ Naruto staggered back up and jumped away from the fence. He stared at the three who stayed hovering in the air. __**'Those with a…gift… can easily manipulate the chakra with just a mere thought.'**__ Naruto backed up and then grabbed his fallen bag. He shouldered it quickly and ran. __**'You should finish your thought, boy. Are you going to leave them there?'**_

_Quickly, Naruto imagined them being thrown back into the grass and behind him the blonde heard several yelps and cries. __**'Hmm. You have quite a gift, boy.**_

'_**Maybe we shall meet again, hmm…?'**_

break~~

"Naruto! Get up you lazy sonuva—" Naruto's eyes snapped open and quickly flipped to the side, avoiding Kiba's butt. The brunette glared at him and stood up, shouting," C'mon! You have like, 10 minutes!" Naruto glanced at the clock and groaned," No breakfast?" "Not unless you hurry your ass up, Uzumaki," the other yelled out, closing the door behind him.

Naruto moaned and lay back down. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. '_I haven't remembered that in awhile.'_ He sat up and quickly dressed himself. Dropping by the bathroom, he splashed his face several times with cold water and then ran out.

Kiba stood at the bottom of the stairs, hands on his hips when Naruto ran down. He grabbed the blonde and stuffed a piece of toast into the other's mouth. Naruto complained but let the other drag him out of the house.

The dragging, though, continued till both of them reached school. Kiba finally let go only because they had different periods at the moment. The brunette saluted," I'll see you at lunch?" Naruto was about to agree, when he remembered Neji's note. Naruto scratched his nose and replied," Sorry man. Gai-sensei caught me yesterday and wanted me to see him." Kiba laughed," What? Were you not youthful enough during PE?" Naruto shrugged and waved bye to his pal.

Upon entering the building to his homeroom, he jumped up into the air at the sound of his name. "S-sakura-chan!" The pink-haired girl walked up to him, smiling brightly. Naruto grinned and greeted," Good morning!" Sakura replied the same and asked," Do you think you're free tonight? My grandmother wants to have dinner and she invited you." "Pervy-sage's coming then, right?" "Naturally."

Naruto hooted," Hell yeah! I'll bug that old geezer then." Sakura bopped him on the shoulder lightly and walked with him to class.

"Ya know, Baa-chan usually never has dinners." "Mmm, well she said there's a guest coming." Naruto looked at the rose-haired and asked," A guest? Who?" "Well, I'm not sure."

They turned and entered their classroom. "Well," Sakura began," you probably have your sky-board, so meet me at the entrance." Naruto nodded and watched his friend walk back to her seat in the front. He sat down at his desk and sighed. His stomach was already growling. He exhaled.

'_This is gunna be a long day.'_

break~~

**A/N:** Sorry it's so short guys T_T; I wanted to update a little. I think 4k words are the maximum length that I can pump out nowadays… Sorry that the preview from last chapter was kinda wrong. It was suppose to happen, but I can't get on with the story right now.

But like, kinda don't expect an update for a week or so. A teacher at my school recently died and I was very close with him. Not only that my dog just died. So I've been kinda out of it U_U; Sorry everyone. I'll update later though.

*Oro: The official language and writing system of Kumogakure and several other floating villages.

**Preview:** Naruto heads over to the senior section of his school to talk to Neji.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **Naruto shall never be mine and will always belong to Masashi Kishimoto

**Rating: **PG-13

**A/N:** I feel a bit better now:) Thanks for the reviews and the support everyone~ I think I'm not going to update with any previews anymore. It's so hard to keep with the preview, haha;; So I'll tell it to y'all straight, this chapter has nothing to do with the preview from chapter 6… Yeah;; SO MOVING ON. Please continue to read on, even if it doesn't match the preview! Thank you and enjoy chapter 7!

Oh! And also, this chapter is all about Sasuke. It takes place right after they discover Neji spying on him and Tsuande.

-Underground-

When he paused, she paused.

When he turned, she turned.

Whatever he did or went, she ended up following. It is absolutely infuriating.

Sasuke turned around and glared at the big-chested woman. He scowled. "Stop following me, Tsunade." She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms together in front of her. She replied hotly," Not unless you listen to what I say." Sasuke snorted.

"I don't need your advice. Go play with Jiraiya."

"Oh, you need it alright. I'm not about to let you ruin years of planning just because you're being stubborn."

Sasuke raised a brow and asked," Planning?" Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently," I'm not about to talk about that here. Uchiha, you're coming with me."

"Why should I?" Tsunade smirked," You obviously have a disadvantage here. You're not used to the high altitude—you pant after a quick brisk walk." Damn that Tsunade! Sasuke cursed. She was an ex-medic, she had gotten super strength, and now she was a pro at practically reading her target. Just what could she have been doing these past 50 years?

Sasuke lied," I'm practicing breathing exercises." "Come off it, Sasuke. You don't know anything about Kumogakure. You're technologically stupid (Sasuke growled). And not only that—" She pointed at his mismatched clothing. "You have no clothes. How're you going to stay here? Are you going to expect to wear Naruto's jacket for the rest of the time you're here?" Sasuke smirked.

"Who said I'm going to be staying long?"

Tsunade eyed him. What was he saying? Sasuke continued," I'm here to get something then go. I have a duty to fulfill as an Uchiha." Tsunade barked," If you haven't noticed, Sasuke, Konoha is empty. It's a ghost town. Everyone who's lived there has passed away or moved up here or another floating village." "So there's more of these villages?" Tsunade ignored his question. "What's back there that you need? Just stay here, Sasuke. I can easily pull some strings for you."

Sasuke waved his hand," I don't need you to choose my life. I'm not going to abandon my clan's treasure. I'm not like…him…" Tsunade heard the last word come out as a growl. She bit back," Enough of that, Sasuke. Itachi shouldn't be the reason why you have to be down there. There's no one, _no one_ down there anymore." Sasuke turned away from her.

"I'm there. That's all that matters. Besides, it's better that way." He faced her again and added on," It's quieter." Tsunade shook her head at him and replied," I don't know where you've been these past 50 years or why you look so young, but things have changed." Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance," God, Tsunade. You sound like you care."

Tsunade snapped and grabbed the front of the jacket," Listen up, Uchiha. I'm worried because knowing you, you've not only come here for whatever, you've found something interesting." Sasuke looked at her emotionless. "And that something is Naruto." Sasuke chuckled deeply.

So the blonde had acquainted himself with the two? _'Interesting.'_

Sasuke replied," He is a looker. Minato's boy, am I right?" "Yes. He is." "What happened to him? When I looked around Naruto's apartment and Minato's room looked like there hadn't been anyone there for the longest time." "He died," hissed the older woman.

Sasuke put two hands up in mockery," Oh, I'm sorry. Sore subject?" "Don't fuck with me, Uchiha." "I'm not interested. I'm more of a _blonde-haired-blue-eyes_ kind of man." Tsunade raised a fist and looked threateningly at the boy.

"You are to come with me. You are to stay with me and my granddaughter for the time being. Bother Naruto and I'll kill you." Sasuke sighed," You and your husband sure are threatening. I got the same threat from Jiraiya the other day, you know." Tsunade turned red.

She turned around and kept a firm grip on the jacket," We are going. And you are going to listen to my orders." She looked back at him.

"Understand?"

"Hn."

Break~

Tsunade stopped her insistent dragging and pulled out her keys. With a shove and a turn, the door creaked open. She stomped inside and closed the door behind the brooding Uchiha.

Sasuke looked around and remarked that the older woman seemed to have been doing well off. She had about a dozen fancy pots and urns everywhere, with a few paintings tacked up on the wall here and there. The fancy furniture and the atmosphere itself added to the fanciness.

"You have quite a home." Tsunade looked back and nodded for the Uchiha to follow. She replied," Being the ex-president does wonders. Me and my granddaughter run an onsen and hotel, so it adds to it."

She turned and entered into a large room. She took a seat on one of the couches in the middle of the space and watched the raven-haired sit on the opposite couch. Tsunade crossed her legs and leaned back into the soft cushion.

Sasuke spoke up bored-ly," So what? Are you going to interrogate me?" Tsunade picked at a split end and replied," Since you're ready for it, why are you following Naruto?" The Uchiha replied with a 'hn' and sat back. He smirked and replied," Why not this? You ask a question, I answer. Then I ask a question, you answer? Sound simple enough?"

Tsunade glowered and muttered," I'm not about to just accept an Uchiha deal." "Then you can talk to yourself." Tsunade growled and finally accepted.

"I'm following Naruto because he interests me. Did you and Jiraiya get married?"

"Yes. Where did you go for 50 years?"

"I was stuck in the Senjutsu Cave. Why aren't you and Jiraiya staying together?"

"We like it like this. And how did Naruto come into this?"

"He broke the seal on the entrance to the Senjutsu Cave. Where is that man?"

"He runs the government now. He booted me out of power. What are you looking for then?"

"Something. How did he get in power?"

"You failed to answer your question properly and I've already answered that. I get two questions. What specifically are you looking for? And what size are you?"

"…What? I'm looking for my clan's sword."

"What size are you?"

Tsunade looked at him intently. She added," So I can get your clothes and give them to you." Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know… I'm sure that I'm not that dobe's size." "You must be a medium."

Tsunade stood up and then was about to ask another question when Sasuke beat her to it," Where's my brother?"

Tsunade gave him a look and replied slowly," Since Kumogakure's creation, Itachi's been missing."

Break~

Sasuke picked at the newer clothes. They were alright, but they were showing off his pale chest a _tad_ bit too much. "Who wears this kind of stuff? A girl," asked Sasuke. Tsunade rolled her eyes," That's a V-neck. It's not that bad. We only see a little of your collarbone." Sasuke plucked at his pants this time," And why is this stuck to my skin so tightly?" "Those are skinny-jeans, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared at his new clothes. '_This society… is so odd.'_

Tsunade sat down and placed a large suitcase onto the small table that sat between the two. She nodded to the suitcase and declared," There are some clothes that you can use for the duration of your stay here." Sasuke glared at the package and murmured," There won't be any of…these type, right?" "That's the basic outfit here in Kumogakure. Get over it Sasuke."

The raven crossed his arms and sneered. Tsunade picked up her freshly brewed tea and sipped it softly. She looked up at the disinterested Uchiha and finally put her cup down. Sasuke, though, cut her off before she could ask him anything.

"Does Naruto have the Hokage Necklace?" Tsunade raised a plucked brow. "Why do you ask?" "He was able to create a hole in the seal at the Senjutsu Cave. I saw no piece of jewelry on him." Tsunade re-wrapped her arms in front of her again.

She bit her lower lip and looked down in her lap. '_Should I say it?'_ She wondered. She looked back up into Sasuke's face and replied swiftly," Yes, he does. It was written in his father's will."

Sasuke blinked slowly and then drawled," But Minato should not have been in possession of the necklace. You or Kushina should have had it." Tsunade waved a hand in the air," Kushina never owned it. She saw it once, but told me to keep a hold of it." She smiled softly. "She always said she liked to run around without anything jangling on her." Sasuke picked up his cup and sipped. He muttered into the cup," Where is she now?"

"She died." Sasuke raised his brows and then put the cup down. He asked," No heirs?" Tsunade lied," None." Sasuke sat back and put his arms on top of the couch's pillows.

"So, then the duties…?" "Yes, they will remain with the Uchiha." Sasuke looked down at his lap. He heard Tsunade sip her tea and sigh.

"Don't go back there for that, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up at her and eyed the older woman. "Why?" "Sasuke, we can't do anything about Kushina's death… And we certainly can't do anything about that. But you have a choice. Kushina always said that you never needed to do it." Sasuke rebutted. "No. It is a tradition and I will follow with it. Kushina never convinced me, and neither will you."

Tsunade sighed and tightened her fists. She started but then heard a slam somewhere in the house. She stood up and shouted," Sakura? Is that you?" There was a muffled 'yes' near the entrance and Tsunade trudged to the door and called," Can you prepare a room at the hotel?" "Ah, sure. Can I get something to eat first?" "Yes, but make sure to get to it!"

Sasuke turned around and watched the woman walk back over. She stood near him with her hands on her hips," My granddaughter is preparing you a room to stay at. Whatever you have at Naruto's apartment, bring it here." Sasuke began," Now why should I even stay here?" Tsunade glowered," Don't forget, Sasuke. He's in charge. I can easily call him up and sick him on your ass." He glared at the woman and cursed her under his breathe.

He crossed his legs and replied," Well you're lucky. I brought nothing and left nothing at the dobe's home." Tsunade clicked her tongue and pointed at him," Stay in this room for now. I'll bring something to snack on and I will check your room."

She paced over to the door and opened it. As she exited she called back," You owe me, Uchiha."

Sasuke snorted and let the door click close. He grunted and stood up, patted his annoyingly cling-y pants. He looked down at them and muttered," You're like all those girls who followed me when I was a kid. Cling-y." He stretched and looked around at the large room.

The light-cream coloured room was spacious but ironically pretty chilly. Sasuke didn't mind the cold, though. He _had_ stayed cooped up in a room with an iceberg on the ceiling for nearly 50 years. He walked around the room, hoping that his meandering would somehow loosen his pants. He came to a stop at the glass-sliding doors that opened up to a balcony. The raven didn't open it, but looked through it and saw that it opened out to (from what Sasuke could tell) the hotel and the onsens.

At that moment he spotted a bob of pink and saw a slim girl holding a small box. She had a pretty smile adorning her face as she disappeared down another hall. He shifted his footing and mused," That must be her granddaughter." He turned around and slipped his cold hands into his pockets. "She's not that bad on the eyes, but not my type." He walked around the room, stopping at the opposite side from the door. He took a look at the photos that stood on top of a fireplace.

His eyes scanned over a picture of the ex-president's wedding with Jiraiya and chuckled. Jiraiya looked as red as a tomato as Tsunade stood next to him… red as a tomato. Knowing them, they probably got so drunk before the actual wedding that they said their vows when they were tipsy. He looked over another photo: a baby picture of a man with soft cream-coloured hair, and then another, slightly newer, photo of another baby. This baby's hair was a soft-rose colour and Sasuke knew it was the granddaughter.

His eyes roamed the photos again, but this time the photos were mostly about this mysterious granddaughter named Sakura. He stopped, though, at a photo where Tsunade and Sakura were standing together. They all wore black and the little girl held onto a small chubby tan hand. Sasuke's eyes lit up with interest and saw that the small hand belonged to a crybaby blonde—Naruto. He picked up the photo and stared at the photograph, examining the small boy's childish features. The Uchiha put the photo back and looked over the last few:

A picture of Sakura with Naruto eating ice cream (Sasuke licked his lips at the blonde's expression), another picture of Sakura with Naruto at a park with a few other kids, more photos of the two at school and at other places. The last photo though, was a picture of Naruto and Sakura at a lake. The blonde had an arm draped onto Sakura's shoulder while Sakura did the same. They presented a V-sign and were glistening from their swim.

Sasuke's eyes traveled hungrily down the small blonde's body, noting that this picture looked a tad recent. His eyes traveled down to the boy's swimming trunks and Sasuke scowled at its existence. He was about to lean back and sit down at the couch again, when his eyes stopped at the boy's navel. His eyes traced the outline of a red tattoo that was painted onto Naruto's stomach.

'_It can't be.'_

As if on cue, Tsunade entered the room carrying a tray of small crackers and another pot of tea. She set it down on the table and looked at the back of the Uchiha. "What're you standing over there for, Sasuke?"

He turned around, the photo of Naruto and Sakura's swim in his hands. Tsunade squinted at the photo at first and asked," What's th—" The platter clattered and one of the tea cups spilled over. Tsunade suddenly rematerialized in front of Sasuke and snatched the photo from his hands. She pressed it to her chest defensively and stuttered," Y-you, why were you…?"

Sasuke glared at her and felt his eyes melting into red. He snarled," Were you planning to hide that from me? That Naruto is an _actual_ Uzumaki?" Tsunade bit back," I won't let you take him, Sasuke. He knows nothing!" Sasuke jabbed a finger at her," It's his duty!" "Kushina died giving birth to him in a free and new environment. She wanted him free from those responsibilities!"

Sasuke growled," But they are still active. Tsunade, he is the last heir of the Uzumaki! I will not let you keep him from his calling." Tsunade snapped," Then I have no choice, Sasuke!"

In one swift motion, the photo fell from her hands and clattered loudly onto the floor. Sasuke backed up and let his Sharingan fully open. He dodged a punch from the older woman and was about to kick her when she disappeared.

"I told you, Sasuke. You're at a disadvantage."

He turned around and saw a quick flash of the older woman's dirty blonde hair. Sasuke felt a jab in his neck and several consecutive taps to his spine. He spun but felt something in his body go limp and let itself freefall to the floor. Sasuke crumpled to the floor and snarled," What did you do?" He moved his legs mentally, but physically there came no response.

Tsunade held up her hand and Sasuke saw it glowing a dull blue. He thundered," You used your chakra?" She nodded," I only temporarily paralyzed you." She grabbed the Uchiha's arm and lifted him easily from the floor. She forced the numbed boy to lean somewhat onto her and dragged him out.

"Sakura! Is the room ready?" "Yes! I left it unlocked!"

Tsunade quickly walked past the kitchen where Sakura's back was faced to the two. Taking several turns and climbing up several steps ("Damn you, you old hag! When this—this condition wears off, I'll cut your head off first!") the two entered into a neat hotel room. Unceremoniously, Tsunade dumped the boy onto the bed and went out.

Sasuke shifted his face a bit and growled into the bed covers. '_That accursed hag! How dare she put me into this position!' _Sasuke heard footsteps again and felt her manicured hands pulling him up onto the bed, laying him faced up. His eyes glanced at her and saw a long piece of rope wrapped around her hands.

"You! You plan to hold me hostage?" "This was plan B, if you were planning to escape."

Sasuke felt the rope wrap semi-tightly over the boy's body. He protested," You hag! Untie me now! How am I suppose to eat? Go to the bathroom?" In response, a button was slipped under one of his hands. She smirked," Press that and I'll come and rescue you, Uchiha." Sasuke snarled," Fuck you!" With a final tug, Tsunade stood up victorious.

She sat in a chair nearby and simpered at her work. "Since you told me that you came out from the Senjutsu Cave, I assumed that your body is still weak from that pseudo-hibernation." Her smirk grew wider as the Uchiha attempted to move any part of his numbed body. "And it seems I was right."

He snapped at her," Just wait and see. I'll escape and find my family sword, and then I'll slit your throat!" Tsunade chuckled darkly," Doubt it. Unlike you, for 50 years I've trained dutifully. Although these past two decades have been dedicated for eradicating him, I know I'm much stronger than you." Sasuke snarled again. Tsunade crossed her legs and propped her arms onto the chair's armrests.

"I won't allow you to tell Naruto about his heritage."

Sasuke glared. "You plan to hide it from him? You and I both know very well that Kyuubi loathes us Uchiha." Tsunade glared back," And you think that he'd just let Naruto stroll on into the room?" Sasuke pushed his head up trying to feel his body move, but to no avail. Sasuke turned and scowled at the older woman," The Kyuubi is loyal to the Uzumaki clan. He won't kill the boy." Tsunade shook her head. "Even if I wanted to send Naruto back, I can't." "And why the hell not?"

"He's in charge. Naruto's arrival down there the first time was most likely a fluke. The next time he goes there, he could die." Sasuke growled," Him being in charge doesn't make any difference. Naruto is an Uzumaki, therefore the duties that the Uchiha have need to be passed back to the Uzumaki."

Tsunade sighed angrily. "You just don't get it, do you Uchiha?" "I think it's the other way around!" "No, it isn't." She stood up.

"If he were to find that Kushina had an heir to the Uzumaki family, he would send the Akatsuki after Naruto. Naruto is still a boy; he can't defend himself if the secret police chase after him. If Naruto dies now, then there really won't _be_ any Uzumaki heir."

Sasuke muttered darkly," So you'd let my family's death be a waste then? I won't allow it!"

Tsunade turned and opened the door. As she was about to close it she turned and replied," We are working on a way, Sasuke. Just be patient." "I waited for 50 years!"

Tsunade looked back into the room and quietly replied," I won't let anymore of my precious people die."

She closed the door and Sasuke roared into the empty room. '_That wench! How dare she leave me, an Uchiha, like this?'_

Sasuke attempted to wriggle out of the rope binds but to no avail. He let out one more loud roar of frustration and then decided to just relax. He glanced at the window that was on his right and saw that it was already dusk. He let out an exasperated sigh and listened quietly to his surroundings.

From a distance, he could hear Tsunade's powerful step echoing through the nearby house. He could swear that she was smirking and inwardly gloating at her success to pin down the Uchiha.

Sasuke grumbled and closed his eyes. But it had been awhile since he had slept comfortably. He'd think of a better plan after some rest. Besides, the lulling of the warm bed reminded him of a warm blonde that he was curious to hold.

Flashback…

"_The Uzumaki heir that will be coming may be another girl."_

_Sasuke looked up from his spinning top and listened to his parents' discussion._

"_So, Itachi may…?"_

"_Yes."_

_8-year old Sasuke waddled to his parents in the kitchen. "What about Aniki?" Uchiha Fugaku looked at his youngest son. He turned to exit the kitchen and patted his son on the head. Before leaving though, he turned and shook his head to Uchiha Mikoto. "Hey mom, why were you talking about Aniki?"_

_She sighed and bent down to fix the young Sasuke's clothes. She gave a pretty smile and replied," You don't need to worry. We were talking about… Itachi's present." Sasuke's eyes suddenly shone and he giggled," For Aniki's birthday?" Mikoto nodded, but added that it was a secret present, so Sasuke had to not tell his brother. She stood up and then pushed the boy out gently, telling him that she was going to cook and to not disturb her._

_Sasuke plopped himself in front of his unmoving top and picked it up. He toyed with it till it spun in front of the young Uchiha. He smiled to himself and looked at the calendar that hung on the wall—only a week before Itachi's birthday. 'I bet Aniki will be surprised at mom and dad's present.' He smiled to himself and let his gaze fall back to his top._

_Break~~_

"_Aniki, Aniki!" Sasuke reached up and felt his older brother's hands reach under his arm pits. He lifted the small boy easily but chuckled," You're getting too big for me to carry on my back, Sasuke." Said brother giggled and shifted to move comfortably on Itachi's back. _

"_Ne, ne Aniki… Where are we going?"_

_Itachi hummed and looked up at the setting sun ahead of them._

"_Well, we're going to a festival."_

_Sasuke bounced up and down but Itachi's grunts to calm the younger made Sasuke cling happily to his brother's shirt. He asked with excitement," Will there be booths and snacks and stuff?" Itachi's laugh rumbled through Sasuke's small frame. "No, no. This is an adult festival."_

_Sasuke furrowed his brow and pouted," So it's a boring one?" "Not exactly. The whole village will be there." Sasuke 'hmph-ed'. "Including those weird girls?" Itachi laughed loudly again and replied," If I didn't know any better, I'd say it sounded like you don't like girls." "I don't. They're clingy, loud, and they sometimes smell funny." Another bout of laughter emerged from the older as they both turned into a crowd of excited people._

_Sasuke's eyes shimmered with curiosity. "This is the festival?" He felt Itachi nod and heard," Yes, but it's actually more like a parade than a festival." Sasuke 'oh-ed' and watched the numerous floats pass by them, with their shining dancers, animals, and treasures. Itachi began walking again and Sasuke saw that he was walking over to the Uchiha family area. "Aniki, the whole family's here…" "Yes, so you must behave, okay?" Sasuke whined," Ehhh, why?" "If mother and father see you behaving at an adult festival, then maybe father will let you come with us to the Mansion."_

_Itachi felt a tug on his hair and Sasuke yipped," Aniki! Can you put me down, please?" Itachi gave another chuckle and lowered his younger brother to the ground. Sasuke hopped off his brother's back and stepped a couple of steps ahead of the older. He held up his hand and proudly boasted," Aniki! Let me walk you over there!" Itachi smiled and stood up, allowing his little brother to hold onto his bigger hand and lead him to the crowd of Uchihas._

_Fugaku glanced at them and nodded in acknowledgement. He patted Sasuke on the head and then gave another nod to Itachi. Sasuke looked around and saw his mother chatting to the other Uchiha woman. He trotted to his mother and Mikoto asked," Did Itachi pick you up on time?" Sasuke nodded with a smile. He turned and watched his brother and father talk. They looked serious and Sasuke saw that Itachi's face looked a bit nervous._

_Mikoto tapped Sasuke's shoulder and ushered him forward. Sasuke tiptoed to peer above the fence and stared at a large wooden float. At the top, under a large canopy, stood several people; they were mostly adults with graying hair. The young child, in the center sitting, contrasted to the older men with her bright red hair. Her chubby face shone with boredom as she looked left and right. _

_Sasuke blinked and then tugged at his mother's dress. "Mom, mom! Who's that?" Mikoto looked down at her son and replied," You mean that young lady on the float?" He nodded. Mikoto paused, a finger tapping her chin._

"_Well she's a very important person." "What's her name?" "Oh, her name is Uzumaki Kushina. She's moving here in Konohagakure." Sasuke filled up with questions and asked the first that came to mind," Why is she moving here?" "Well, because she has to. She has duties to fulfill." Sasuke was about to ask more when he was lifted up by his brother. Sasuke sat comfortably atop his brother's shoulders and watched the ongoing parade. He glanced down at his brother's face and saw him watching the red-head's float go towards the center of the village. _

"_Hey Aniki, who's that Kushina-girl? Why's she so important?" Itachi looked up and replied," She's part of the royal family, Sasuke. She'll be living at the Mansion like the recently deceased Mito-sama." "Oh! She's like Mito-baa-san?" Itachi nodded. The older turned and suddenly began walking, following the crowd that began to gather at the center. Sasuke looked around and watched as his family migrated._

_As they arrived at the center of the village, the other floats had disappeared, leaving the Uzumaki's float the only one left. It parked in front of the Hokage Mansion and one of the adults took hold of the girl's hand. They descended down the float and Sasuke watched the current Hokage, 'Sarutobi-jii-san' as Sasuke dubbed him, met on stage. He patted her head with a smile and then turned to face a mic._

"_Today, we welcome Uzumaki Kushina to Konoha. She, like her great-grandmother Uzumaki Mito, will become our protector and will help the Uchiha clan—" They was a loud shout, causing Sasuke to miss part of what Sarutobi had said.. "—For as long as she stays here, please welcome her with open hearts!" Another shout of approval arose from the crows. Sasuke saw many of his family members clap, but Itachi only stood stiffly and watched quietly._

_Sarutobi continued on, then finally stepped down after bidding the crowd a pleasant evening. The crowd began to disperse and Sasuke felt his tired body lean against Itachi's head. "Are you sleepy, Sasuke?" The little Uchiha mumbled incoherently. He felt Itachi walking again and he asked tiredly," Where we goin' Aniki?" "We're going home, alright?" "'mmkay.." _

_Break~~_

"_Hi, I'm home!" _

_Mikoto looked up and saw her youngest son's spiky hair bounding inside from the entrance. She greeted him back and then asked," I'm sorry you had to walk home by yourself, Sasuke." The little boy beamed and held both straps of his bag. "Uh-uh! I'm a big kid now, mom." Mikoto smiled and then told her son to keep quiet if he would pass by his father's room._

_Sasuke blinked, though. 'Is dad sleeping or something?' He tiptoed to the other side of the house and towards his parent's room. As he approached the door, he heard Itachi's deep voice shoot out in the silence._

"_Father, I refuse to allow this." Sasuke peaked through the crack of the door and saw his father and brother sitting on their knees, facing each other with a glare on their faces. _

_Fugaku snorted," Itachi. This is your duty. Because the Uzumaki heir is unable to perform their duties, you must take over. You are the eldest." Itachi's frown grew and he retorted," I would, but what you're asking for—I can't do it, Father." The older slammed his hand onto the tatami floor and roared," Are you disobeying your father?" Itachi intensified his glare and replied," I will not do anything to bring harm to the village, Father." Fugaku roared and stood up. _

_Sasuke jumped back and ran quietly to his room. Behind him, he heard the sound of something getting hit, but the young Uchiha didn't stop till he was safe under his blankets._

_For about 20 minutes, Sasuke lay in silence. He heard a click somewhere in his room and following the click came soft footsteps. The bed suddenly sank with a heavy groan and Sasuke peered out from his covers. "A-aniki?" The blanket was pushed down and Sasuke felt his brother wrap him in a tight hug. _

"_Sasuke, whatever happens… I'll always be your big brother, right?" _

_Sasuke tried to release himself from the blanket's cover but his brother had trapped him inside of it, obscuring any sight of Itachi. "Aniki, what are you saying?" There was a silence, but Sasuke felt the older tighten his grip._

"_Just promise me, okay Sasuke? I'll always be your big brother, right?" Sasuke felt something wet on his forehead. "Okay, Sasuke?" "O-okay, Aniki…" Suddenly, the hug was gone and Sasuke heard a click from his door. Throwing off his covers, he stared at the closed door and looked back at his blanket. He felt his forehead and felt a wet, sticky substance on his fingers. He brought his hand back down and stared at the red substance on his fingertips._

_Break~~_

_Sasuke followed his father and the rest of the Uchiha family to the center of the village. He stared at the ground avoiding any eye contact that came with the Uchiha procession. He occasionally looked at his father's back and the Fan symbol of the Uchiha clan, but his gaze stayed firm on the ground._

"_Did you hear? Uchiha Itachi was disowned…" _

"_Oh, so the rumor about him staying with the Hyuuga's…?"_

_His father told him that today was a very special day, especially for the Uchiha and Sasuke himself. Sasuke gripped the large katana tightly across and close to his chest. Fugaku stated that it was a great responsibility for Sasuke, but since… he left, Sasuke would get the privilege of actually entering the Hokage Mansion. _

"_You know what I heard? Sasuke-san is the new Uchiha heir. Does that mean he—"_

"_Shh!"_

_Sasuke glanced up at the back of his father and settled his gaze on the Fan. How could Itachi do this to him? He loved his brother, but yet Itachi was now the source of his depression. How could Itachi just up and leave him to do such a task?_

"_Poor Sasuke-san, I mean… He's only 8-years-old."_

"_He'll never see his family again."_

_Sasuke turned his head and glared at the gossiping townspeople through the numerous bodies of other Uchiha family members. He turned away and looked back down. They didn't understand anything. They were all stupid, stupid people who had no right to talk about him! He squeezed the katana tightly. _

_Damn them, damn Itachi!_

_Fugaku stopped and turned to his paled son. Sasuke looked up and then gazed at the large Mansion. The Mansion looked more enormous and more brooding than usual. Sasuke gulped and held the weapon closer to his small chest. _

"_Sasuke."_

_He looked up at his father's proud expression. _

"_We'll be behind you from here on out."_

_The young Uchiha gulped and nodded. Hesitantly, he began walking towards the open door to the inside of the Mansion. Before going in, he glanced to the right and saw the bright red hair._

"_You don't have to do this, Sasuke-kun."_

_Sasuke glared at her and turned to look back into the dark entrance. He walked inside and at the center, spied the staircase his father had told him about. The staircase, instead of going up, spiraled downwards. In the dim light of the room, Sasuke reached out to the hand railing of the staircase. He took slow steps down the stairs descending into the darkness, his family following._

_It was hard, to see but eventually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness. With each step he took down the staircase, Sasuke heard something scratching at the darkness. It must have been 10 minutes of descending in the darkness, when Sasuke reached a candle. It was an old candle, the wax nearly melted to the bottom, but with a flame still burning strong. Sasuke gulped again and found that he was gulping dry air. A hand placed itself on his shoulder and Sasuke looked back at his father's face. _

"_We're almost there."_

_Sasuke nodded shakily and proceeded down the stairs. Now the candles made a more frequent appearance, but so did a cold breeze. Sasuke felt his skin sucking back into his body, goose bumps popping about his arms. _

_He felt sick. He felt like there was something heavy in the air—like some sort of smoke. He didn't want this. He didn't want to do this at all. _

_How could Itachi do this to him?_

_Break~~_

**A/N: **Annnd, cut. _; So.. let's just call this part 1, cuz Sasuke's side isn't done yet but yeah. Another reason why I'm throwing this out now is because of the whole Japan earthquake thing. You guys, praying is great and all, but please donate! It takes money to feed those stranded people and to rebuild infrastructure. I know that there are some people out there whose family is probably affected due to the tsunami and earthquake—I know mine have.

Please, please, please! Even a penny is a lot of money now.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

**Rating:** PG-13 for things like cursing and stuff.

-Underground-

Chapter 8

_As Sasuke led the family down, he his mind wandered back to his brother._

_How scared must his brother have felt when his father told him that it was the duty of the Uchiha heir to remain in the Hokage Mansion, in the cellar, and keep watch over the Kyuubi? The only time he was ever to come back to the surface was when the Uzumaki heir went out or when the heir died. But considering that the heir rarely went out anyway, there was a slim chance of Sasuke ever seeing the light of day now._

_Sasuke looked up at the dark cement-bricked ceiling and then looked back down. It was his duty now. He was to stay in, what the villagers called, the 'Underground', watching over a beast that could easily overpower him._

_Fugaku pressed his large hands onto Sasuke's shoulders. There was a reassuring squeeze, but Sasuke just proceeded all the same. The cold air sunk into his skin as he descended the steps and, being only 8, Sasuke kept hallucinating that there would be some sort of demon spawn crawling at the bottom. He gripped the katana tightly again, his knuckles bleaching white. _

_He was so young—his brother was a full 5 years older than he. Itachi should have done this. It was unfair. Why did he have to do this? _

_At last, the family saw the bottom step—only it was submerged in dark, clear water. Sasuke gave a gulp; what if something reached out and grabbed him in the dark water; what if it dragged him into the beast's den and made him demon food; Sasuke's mind reeled._

"_Come Sasuke, we must continue." _

_Sasuke hesitated: he could go down and forever stay in this wet and cold basement or he could run away like his brother. Sasuke's grip slacked, but came back, squeezing the weapon tightly._

'_No,' he thought angrily,' I will not be like Itachi.' _

_He stepped down into the water, goose bumps racing up his arms. The water seeped through his sandals and numbed his toes. Sasuke bit down on his lips and attempted to still his chattering jaw. With sloshing steps, the young Uchiha continued down the dark hallway. The water lapped up and splashed his calves, causing his cold clothing to stick to his skin. _

_Taking a left, the Uchiha family came to an open room with a platform that rose above the water. A mattress was laid onto the platform, along with a lamp. There wasn't much of a need for the lamp though because there were numerous candles embedded into the wall. _

"_Now then, Sasuke.." _

_At the sound of his name, the boy turned around and looked at his father. The older knelt down and gripped Sasuke's shoulders reassuringly. _

"_Don't worry Sasuke. The demon won't attack you as long as you keep the Kusanagi on you at all times," instructed Fugaku. _

_Sasuke looked down at the thin blade and doubted his father's words. How could a piece of metal save the youngest Uchiha from being demon brunch? _

_At the sound of his father standing back up, Sasuke watched as the large man's back turned to him. There came a muffled whispering between Fugaku and the rest of the Uchihas. Sasuke searched for his mother's kind face, only to see that she was standing near the back with a steely expression. _

"_Sasuke."_

_He looked up and saw that instead of his father patting his shoulder, it was his grandfather Madara. The elder Uchiha looked into Sasuke's eyes and whispered," It's time."_

_Sasuke squeezed the Kusanagi and asked shakily," W-what do you mean, M-madara-sama?" _

_Madara smiled darkly and spun Sasuke around. Holding onto Sasuke's shoulder, the young-looking grandfather swerved the boy across the room towards another dark hallway._

"_Ah! So young, my grandson! So young and naïve!" _

_Sasuke allowed his grandfather to tug him into another rectangular room, similar to his 'bedroom' but without the actual 'bed', and allow his grandfather to stop him in front of a solid wall. Sasuke glanced about the room and saw that on both sides of the room, 3 doorways opened up into dark rooms. _

"_Wanna know what's behind this, grandson?"_

_Sasuke blinked and looked up at his grandfather with owlish eyes. The long-haired Uchiha smiled sadistically. _

"_Ding-ding, your eyes tell all," Madara waved a hand in front of the wall, continuing," Indeed, the fabled and feared Kyuubi lies beyond this slab of concrete!" _

_Sasuke flinched and unknowingly took a wet step backwards. His grandfather, having other ideas in mind, nudged the little Uchiha forward. _

"_Don't worry boy! The beast is in a cage and can't harm anything unless released." _

_Sasuke wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but something ate away at his mind. He looked up fearfully at his grandfather and clutched his sword to his chest._

"_W-why did you take me here?"_

_Grandfather Madara gave a wide, toothy smile. He replied slowly," You're going to meet him, that's why."_

_With a swoosh of his hand and a low 'kai', there came a click somewhere beyond the wall. The solid wall gave a pop and a gust of wind blew against Sasuke and Madara as a dark opening materialized on the wall. _

"_Gr-grandfather, I don't think this is a good idea," Sasuke stuttered, pressing his heels into the floor. _

_The young-looking elder grinned fiendishly. With a single push, he and Sasuke strode through the doorway into a dark room. Sasuke, terrified in his grandfather's hold, looked around wildly. The room was exceptionally larger; so large that the ceiling wasn't visible through the darkness. On the walls on Sasuke's left and right, there were candles that seemed to be on the edge of losing their fire; the wax and the wick nearly gone because of the hungry flames. The water that submerged their feet rippled towards them every now and then. Sasuke's only rational thought was that the origin of the ripples came from the opposite wall from them. _

_Across from where Sasuke and Madara stood erected a large jail-looking wall. The thin metal poles descended up into the darkness while in the center, stood a slightly thicker bar with a small seal taped onto it. Sasuke couldn't help but think that the bars were paper thin—after all, it was __the__ Kyuubi that was being barred in. Madara lifted his free arm up and waved it in front of the two sighing blissfully._

"_Isn't wonderful, Sasuke? We're so close to one of the most powerful creatures on the face of this planet," Madara smiled, his teeth bared. "And we can control it at last…"_

_Sasuke looked up at his grandfather, blinking widely. What did that mean? He watched the dark-haired man put down his arm and stare into the dark cage. Behind the pair, sloshing and quiet murmuring reached Sasuke's ears. He turned a little and sure enough, he saw the rest of the Uchiha line trail into the dark jail._

"_Should we really be…?"_

"_Quiet fool! We need this to happen."_

_Sasuke tried to turn his head more, to see who was whispering what._

"_Its power can help us."_

"_Exactly—we need it."_

_Who was saying what? Sasuke craned his neck to listen harder. Suddenly, his grandfather nudged the back of the young Uchiha's neck, causing the other to look straight back forward. Madara's draped arm patted Sasuke's shoulder in an almost comforting manner._

"_Do you see it Sasuke?" Another wave. "Beyond those bars is our salvation!"_

_The whispers behind Sasuke grew louder. _

"_With Elder Madara leading us…"_

"_Of course, there's nothing that can go wrong. Afterall, he's got the…"_

"_Yes, yes. He has those eyes…"_

_Sasuke glanced at his grandfather again. Whoever was whispering about 'those eyes', Sasuke realized that they were talking about their family's Sharingan. Madara stooped down to Sasuke's height and stared into the younger's dark eyes._

"_Sasuke, do you know how much power our eyes have? How much power the Sharingan has?"_

_Sasuke bit his lip and looked downwards. "I know that with the Sharingan activated, a person can do more than m-manipulate the elements with their chakra…"_

_Sasuke felt himself shiver under his grandfather's piercing stare. What was his deal? At the sound of his grandfather's little chuckle, Sasuke looked back up at Madara._

"_Correct, boy!" He stood and threw both arms into the air, turning to the rest of the Uchiha. "Our bloodline, the Sharingan, not only can manipulate the elements to do our bidding, but as well as other people!_

"_We can control their bodies, their chakra… The very substance found in each living things cells—we have the power over it! People all over the land fear us for this very reason… Yet… yet by some ironic and blasted twist of fate… we are pawns of a village that refuses to use us for our worth!"_

_There was a hushed 'hurrah' amongst the Uchiha crowd and Sasuke clung tighter to the Kusanagi. Madara stepped forward, his hands waving around and his eyes growing brighter and more alive with each word he spoke._

"_How is it that a village, with only 1% of their population knowing how to use their chakra, controls us so easily? Nearly our entire clan, with the help of our Sharingan, can manipulate our chakra and the chakras around us! When did the Uchiha become so weak?"_

_There was a thick silence to the elder's question and Madara scoffed._

"_That's exactly the reason why we're in such a pinch: none of you lot wish to take charge. What's there to lose? Their population outranks us by the thousands, but who has our eyes? The only family I would think that has even the slightest chance in beating us would be the Hyuugas, but I doubt they could do any harm. Though our Sharingan descended from their Byakugan, they don't have our power. Besides, they've grown weak under their 'Hokage' that they worship._

"_We, on the other hand… we have power and we can turn it against this damned village! And what better way to overthrow them all, is by using the being that they set us in charge of?"_

_Madara turned this time towards the cage, his arms outstretched before him and the rest of the Uchihas. _

"_The Kyuubi! The demon whose chakra reserves know no bounds and no limits! If our Sharingan can control things that have even the slightest chakra in their cells, then we can control the Kyuubi. After all, he is practically made of pure chakra!"_

_Then Sasuke realized where exactly this was going. They would release the Kyuubi and then use its infinite chakra reserves to destroy the village… and he, Sasuke, was the one who let them in. He clutched tighter to the Kusanagi and felt his throat grow dry._

_It had been odd in the first place that his family had even come with him today, when usually (as written in tradition) the Uchiha heir was to go by himself to the manor, present himself, and stay there for the rest of his life. Alone. Not with his entire clan following… And now he knew why. _

_He was being used._

_Then, suddenly, Sasuke felt a wave of remorse for his elder brother. It was no wonder why the other had turned down this position. To sneak in the Uchiha clan and then allow them to wreck destruction upon Konoha… Sasuke felt ashamed at his previous thoughts on his brother. He had thought that the other was running away from his duty. Instead, the other was trying to save his village… But what about his family? Sasuke knew that he had a duty to both his village and his family… But blood was always thicker than water._

_Madara spun around and smiled widely to Sasuke. _

"_And to you Sasuke… You are the only reason why this plan will even work. When your blasted brother ran away with his tail between his legs… it nearly foiled our plans." Then there was a gentle smile that adorned the elder's smile._

"_But then you volunteered…"_

_Sasuke's breath was stuck in his throat and he felt the colour drain from his face. It was his fault that this was happening. But what could he do? He couldn't turn around and fight his family. _

_Blood was always thicker than water…_

_There was a violent surge of sloshing and Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts as he was being pushed out of the way. He stumbled a bit and saw his family storming towards the Kyuubi's cage. Sasuke felt himself panic. _

_On impulse, Sasuke backed up and started to slowly make his way to the exit. His family, however, took no notice to his retreat. It didn't matter anyway. They were finally in the room of the Kyuubi. They didn't need Sasuke anymore—it wasn't like he was going to run and find any legitimate source of help to stop them now. _

_As he neared the exit to the other room, Sasuke's eyes landed on Madara. In a split second, Sasuke felt as though Madara was watching him, but then turned away to look down at the object his hand was resting on: the seal of the Kyuubi's prison. With a wild smile and his eyes spinning red, Madara pinched the edge of the seal and pulled._

_There was a heavy silence as the family stood in front of the cage, Sharingan activated and ready to fight. For a moment, there was nothing. No eruption of chakra. No wild attacks from the Kyuubi… No Kyuubi at all. Until a cold, but loud whisper pierced through the Uchiha._

"_**Who's the pest disturbing my sleep?"**_

_There was a scattered hushing amongst the Uchiha crowd. Madara gave a cocky smirk and faced the cage once more._

"_Mighty demon, Kyuubi! We, the Uchiha clan, have come to ask for... your assistance, if you may."_

_There was silence from the cage and then the family jumped in surprise—there was a loud roaring noise, something akin to thunder bellowing out from the cage._

"_**Uchiha? Haha, don't make me laugh!"**_

_Sasuke backed up quickly. He felt his back touch a wall and he turned to look for the exit. There was another shaking laughter heard and this time Madara shouted back. The young Uchiha didn't hear whatever Madara had said, but instead concentrated on escaping. He slid his stomach against the wall and felt the cold surface with his right hand. _

"_**Go back to your hole and stay there, you bunch of snakes… Where is the Uzumaki heir?"**_

_Sasuke felt his hand leave the solid surface and he turned to find himself next to the doorway. He shot back a fearful glance to the mob of Uchihas and saw that two blood red slits were looking down on them. The slits narrowed as Madara shouted up at them._

"_We did not come here to play your games, you demon!"_

"_**Oho, then what else are you here for? An autograph? A cup of tea? Scram while I'm nice and fetch the Uzumaki heir!"**_

_Sasuke tumbled backwards and sloshed his way back out the doorway and into the next room._

"_Be QUIET! Mangekyo Sharingan!"_

_Sasuke watched through the doorway and saw no movement. Without warning, the cage of the Kyuubi slammed open. _

"_**How dare you try and control me, Uchiha-scum! How DARE you!"**_

_The water nearest to the cage bubbled and from within the cage, a grungy orange light sent life into the water. The water began to bubble up and Sasuke watched as the bubbled water began to take shape. The water towards the middle of the room churned upwards into the shape of two long, clawed paws. Nearer to the cage, the orange bubbles meshed together and something akin to a fox's head began to mold. The mouth opened wide, revealing rows of pointed white 'teeth'. _

"_**Fools! Fools, every single one of you!" **_

_In terror, the nearest Uchiha gave a single scream and launched a storm of kunai at the still-forming head. Quickly, the mob-effect came into play and the rest of the family began to fight the orange demon. In the midst of the chaos, Madara stood still, his Sharingan fully activated, but not working._

"_I—I don't understand… Our, m-my Sharingan should have worked—it had to work! Why didn't it..?"_

_Suddenly, the newly formed paw of the Kyuubi swung at Madara, sending the elder into the wall. The Uchiha stopped moving and watched as their leader crumbled into the water. All at once, the family began screaming and struggling to run back to the entrance where Sasuke laid. And without remorse, the paws effortlessly began to swat and crush any of the slower ones. Sasuke stood up on shake-y legs and opened to call out to his mother and father who began to near the entrance when Sasuke quickly felt a presence behind him._

_He turned around but was knocked to the side and into the water, the Kusanagi clattering into the water. Sasuke groaned and blinked out the stars from his eyes to look up at the assaulter. As his eyes adjusted on the figure, he struggled quickly to his feet._

_Stuttering, Sasuke couldn't have felt so relieved to have seen him," A-aniki! You're here… it's a disaster…!"_

_Emotionlessly, Itachi turned to look at his brother. Sasuke slowly muted and began to unconsciously look down. _

"_P-please help them… Mother and Father…"_

"_Will die."_

_Sasuke's head snapped up. He stared at the profile of his brother's head and saw that his brother was no longer looking at him but towards the inside of the room. Inside, the hands and the head began to viscously attack the scattering bodies. Fugaku and Mikoto, Sasuke saw, were beginning to lose momentum. They were slowing down, and each step they took, they barely brushed past the Kyuubi's attacks.._

_Sasuke grabbed the front of Itachi's Konoha uniform and pleaded," You have to help them, you have to…!"_

_Itachi looked down and gave a cold glare. Wordlessly, he grabbed Sasuke's hands and threw them off. Pushing Sasuke aside, Itachi bent down and picked up the fallen Kusanagi and held it firmly in his hand. Sasuke blinked down and looked at the sword in his brother's hand. Suddenly, it looked like the sword was a toothpick in his brother's grip._

_Itachi stepped forward and then spoke aloud," Helping them is not on my agenda."_

_With a quick hand sign, the eldest muttered 'kai' under his breathe. Sasuke felt a familiar cold wind whoosh past him and towards the doorway to the Kyuubi's room. Kyuubi, noticing the change looked up and gave a blood curling scream. Quickly, the demon's arms suddenly stretched through the door and clawed at the wall._

"_**You Uchiha scum!"**_

_There was a single pop and Sasuke watched as the claws began to forcefully be sucked back into the other room. A click resounded the air and Sasuke watched as his mother and father helplessly tried to run towards the door, only to disappear behind a slab of concrete._

_Sasuke blinked and slowly looked up at his brother's back._

"_Y-you," he gulped down the knot in his throat and squeaked," you sealed them to their death…?"_

_Itachi turned a single eye to the shaking boy and replied smoothly," They were traitors to the village."_

_There was a roar and Itachi's eyes widened slightly as his younger brother grabbed the front of his uniform again._

"_You killed my Mother and Father!"_

"_No," Itachi replied. "The Kyuubi killed them."_

"_But you LET the Kyuubi kill them!"_

_Itachi gripped the Kusanagi in his hand and glared down at his little brother. The boy was shaking and he was already letting his tears run down his face._

"_You killed them! You traitor!"_

_Without warning, Sasuke felt the back of Itachi's fist connect to the side of his face, sending the youngest Uchiha into the water again. Sasuke coughed as he felt blood dribble down the side of his mouth. Itachi towered over him, his eyes in full Sharingan mode._

"_Sasuke," he began. "Even if I let them go, the village would have killed them."_

_Sasuke struggled to his feet, his head bent low. _

"_Besides. They used you, did they?"_

_Itachi walked around Sasuke, circling him carefully. He stopped behind Sasuke at last and looked at the boy's tense shoulders._

"_Face it, Otouto. They're traitors. They deserved to die."_

_In a second, Itachi winced in pain and looked down. He stumbled back a bit and held his stomach with his free arm. _

"_No, only the weak deserve to die! Mother and Father," Sasuke began. "They were strong, but did wrong!"_

_Sasuke finally looked at his brother eye to eye and Itachi blinked. How had his little brother activated his Sharingan? Itachi gave the other another emotionless stare and then shook his head._

"_At least the weak know their place. Unlike the Uchiha back there, the weak know what's good for others. Not just for themselves."_

_Sasuke roared again and charged up to his brother, fist clenched and ready to attack. Itachi, who was on guard already, turned around and grabbed Sasuke by the neck with a single hand. He slammed the younger against the wall and held him up above the water level. Sasuke began to scratch away at the older's hand, but Itachi paid no attention. He leaned in and gave another dark glare to his brother._

"_It would do you good to know your place, Otouto. You're not the only one in this village—our family isn't the only one in this village."_

_Sasuke coughed out," B-but they did—didn't need to die…!"_

_Itachi's glare turned into slits and he dropped the boy into the water. He looked at the crumpled body and turned away, scoffing. He glanced back at the now sobbing Sasuke and then disappeared down the hall._

* * *

Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he saw himself staring into something white. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face and plopped into the water below him. Faintly, he noticed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles into his back. He looked up haggardly into the concerned stare of a pair of brown eyes.

"Better, brat?"

He looked back down into the white bowl and somewhat realized that he was in a bathroom. He was in a bathroom and was staring into the toilet.

Then he hurled.

* * *

Naruto picked himself up and stretched. He looked around blearily and yawned. Math class was _so_ boring. How could Sakura stand this class? Naruto was having trouble just listening to old Ebisu. There was a pat on his back and he turned around to come face to face with a taller boy with pulled-up brown hair. Naruto grinned.

"Shikamaru! Hey, how was your weekend?"

The brunette, Shikamaru, gave a yawn and pointed to the door. "Neji," another yawn," asked me to tell you to meet up."

Naruto blinked and then gave another full toothy grin. "Oh yeah," he laughed.

He began humming as he pulled out the bento Iruka had thrown at him on the way to his 2nd period. Shikamaru stared at his friend and sat down on someone's desk.

"You know, Shika…"

Shikamaru looked up and gave a lazy blink. Naruto leaned on the brunette's leg and sighed in his face.

"It must be good to get to be in a class with seniors. I bet the girls there are," Naruto leaned in," built with more bust than the ladies here."

Out of nowhere a hit fell onto Naruto's head and the blonde howled, clutching his head. He looked up teary-eyed at another blonde haired girl.

"Ino," he rasped. "That hurt!"

Ino put a hand on her bicep and smirked," You better watch your back, mister. Even though I'm not as brutish as Billboard Brow, I can still kick your ass."

There was a shout behind Ino and Sakura stormed up to the blonde, slapping the girl's arm lightly. Shikamaru sighed and kicked Naruto in the back.

"You have a date with Hyuuga, remember Naruto?"

Naruto jumped and snatched up his lunch, thanking Shikamaru and pushing past the two girls. He ran down the hallway and out of the building, straight for the senior side of the school.

The school was divided into 4 sectors, a sector for each grade level. In the northern side was the freshman's quarter. To the east of the entrance was the sophmore's and to the west was the junior's. In the south, the nearest to the entrance, was the 'elitist' sector—the senior's quarter.

The senior's building was considerably smaller compared to the freshman's building—mostly because half of the kids that made it into Shinobi High dropped out after their 1st year. Therefore, the kids that stayed till the very end were always given special privileges.

Naruto walked under the walkway's covering and made a turn, hopping up the stairs to Gai-sensei's classroom. Gai's class wasn't hard to miss, as Naruto had learned in his sophomore year. After he and Neji had gotten into a fight, Naruto was forced to attend detention with the Hyuuga for a month in Gai's class. It was a pure, green, nightmare.

Landing at the top of the steps of the 2nd floor, Naruto made another turn and looked for the bright green door (the school's doors were all painted red, but Gai insisted to have his 'youthful green'). Spotting the door at the end of the hallway, Naruto jogged a little faster to the door and knocked on it. He peered through the small window and saw that Neji was sitting next to Rock Lee and their friend Tenten.

Lee glanced up and then gave a large grin, jumping to the door. He slid it open with a bang and grabbed both of Naruto's hands, clasping them into his own.

"Naruto-kun! You're here at last!"

He dragged Naruto over to the other two and plopped the blonde next to Tenten. The Chinese girl looked at him and smiled.

"Hey Naruto," she chirped. "How're you?"

Naruto scratched his head and chirped back," Good, good!"

He looked at Neji who was talking to Lee. Naruto squinted at the scarf wrapped around the pale-eyed boy's neck. The Hyuuga blinked and his eyes glanced over to Naruto.

"Hey, I heard you ditched last Friday!"

Naruto turned to Tenten and lied," I didn't feel like coming to school. Wanted a three-day weekend, ya know?"

The brunette girl sighed, an open palm against her cheek. "I want more of those."

Naruto nudged and replied," But you kinda do. I mean, you guys were gone yesterday and all."

"That's because we have a _job_, Naruto. Auhhh, and how I wish we didn't need to do it."

Naruto tilted his head and Tenten laughed. "I mean, like… It's cool and all to be interns for the government and all… But the job is so boring. Can't they have, oh I don't know… bring your dog to work days?"

Naruto grinned and was about to reply when he heard the Hyuuga cough into his hand. Naruto and Tenten turned and looked at their pale-eyed friend.

"Naruto," he began. "I think we should go now."

"Ah, okay."

Tenten gave a whine," Why do you guys get to hang out? Take us with you!"

Lee shook his head and put a hand on Tenten's shoulder," Tenten! We must leave these two to their devices! Since we have free time, let us go to the gym and see Gai-sensei!"

"And train? No thank you, Lee. Last time you dragged me there I nearly collapsed of exhaustion!"

Naruto stood up between Lee and Tenten and scooted next to Neji. The two walked through the door, saying their goodbyes quietly. Neji closed the door behind the two and then started walking off. The blonde strode silently next to the Hyuuga.

Although they had a rocky start in Naruto's sophomore year, Naruto felt that Neji was a very respectable man. He came from a rich and prestigious family, and yet he rarely flaunted his wealth. Before, he used to rave about his amazing skill and that it was his fate to become the next President. Naruto, whose goal was also to become the President, eventually bumped heads with the other and they fought up until the accident in the warehouse district. Now the two were good friends—Neji gave Naruto advice about how to survive the rest of his high school career and Naruto provided entertainment in the stoic Hyuuga's life.

Neji made a right and sat his bag down at a table near two large vending machines. Pulling his wallet out, he made his way to the vending machines and began picking his food. Naruto plopped on the other side and unwrapped Iruka's homemade lunch.

As he began to dig in, Naruto heard a squeak across from him and looked up to see the Hyuuga chewing a chicken sandwich.

"So Neji," Naruto started. "What did you need to tell me?"

Neji chewed and then took a gulp of his water. He put the bottle down and looked straight into the blue eyes.

"Have you heard of the tailed beasts?"

Naruto nodded," The fairy tale ones, right?"

The blonde squinted and looked at his friend. He put a fist onto the table and leaned in. "You're not gunna tell me kid stories are ya?"

Neji continued to eat calmly, eyes closed. He took another swig of his water and replied," You do know the stories, right?"

Naruto scrunched up his face and summarized," There were 9 big, bad demons that ran ape-shit on the 'Underground'. They liked to destroy and make people miserable so 9 families got together and decided to take on 1 demon. Uhh, each family won and the demons were blasted away into infinity. But their spirits still curse the 'Underground' and they eat the souls of little brats who act like demons here."

Neji nodded and licked his finger of the last of his sandwich.

"That's the basic story of it. Now," the senior started. "Let me ask you a couple of questions. I'd like to prove my theory before I tell you."

Naruto shifted uncomfortable and chewed the meat in his lunch.

"First: you told me once that you have heard weird noises, especially near areas where the pipes can open up."

"…Yes…?"

"Okay. Second: when we fought in the warehouse district, there was some sort of tornado. Two weeks after that, in Gai-sensei's room during detention, you stated that the reason you won was because you thought of some sort of gust of air pushing you forward, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Third: you told me, at Sakura's last pool party that the tattoo on your belly has been there as long as you can remember."

"Neji, seriously, if we're gunna play Good Cop, Bad Cop, then at least tell me why!"

"Answer one more question and I'll tell you. Finally: who is that guy with the dark spiked hair and black eyes?"

Naruto jumped. Sasuke? Was he talking about Sasuke? He put his chopsticks down and stared intently at the Hyuuga. He never spoke about Sasuke to Neji. Well, anything specific about the dark-haired. So how did Neji find out how Sasuke looked like? Moreover, when did Sasuke wander around for the Hyuuga to see?

"How… how do you know Sasuke?"

Neji gave a strained smile, and tugged his scarf off, revealing dark bruises that formed something akin to a hand.

"The guy almost killed me yesterday."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No way! Sasuke wouldn't… I mean, I don't know, but… That teme, he…"

Neji rewrapped his scarf and took a gulp of his drink. His look darkened as he recalled yesterday.

"Naruto, that guy's dangerous. Stay away from him."

"H-how did you know that I know Sasuke?"

"He was wearing my jogging pants that I left at your house and the orange jacket that Jiraiya had given you."

Naruto stared and sputtered," But how, I mean.. Why did he?"

Neji chuckled dryly," It was probably punishment for eavesdropping on his and Lady Tsunade's conversation…"

Naruto stood up and stared at his friend," He knows Baa-chan?"

Neji put a hand on the other's arm and whispered," Not so loud. Who knows if the government is recording this…"

Naruto bit his lip and sat stiffly in his spot again.

"How come he knows Baa-chan and Pervy Sage…?"

Neji gave a surprised look and repeated," He knows Jiraiya-sensei also?"

Naruto nodded," Yeah. They acted… well, buddy-buddy. Kind of."

Neji put a finger to his chin and thought quietly. He then looked back at Naruto and replied," Well, whoever Sasuke is, it may play into what I believe may pertain to you, Naruto."

Naruto blinked and then frowned. Sasuke? With something that had to deal with him?

Neji looked at the back of his hand and rubbed it. Then he looked up and stated quietly," I believe that you and this… Sasuke guy, are somehow related these 'fairy tale demons.'"

Naruto stared.

Neji continued," And I also believe that I have proof that these 'demons' are real and that the reason why that new village, Otogakure, was made."

Naruto furrowed his brows and hissed," Are you crazy? That stuff is a fairy tale! Things that moms and dads tell their kids so that those brats listen!"

Neji sighed and replied back," Well think about it Naruto. You're always saying that there's _something_ down in the 'Underground', something calling to you. What if it's one of those demons?"

Naruto backed down. He did know that when there was the great earthquake a couple years back that he began to spout nonsense of things whispering to him at night. And he did know that he was specifically talking about things from the 'Underground.'

"So… how does that teme fit into this… this theory?"

Neji sighed and shook his head," That, I don't know. But right now I only have so much evidence that I can only tell you this much: that guy is dangerous. You'd best keep away from him and attempt to cut ties—immediately."

**A/N:** I'M BAAACKKK~! Did you miss me? Or did you miss Underground more? Huuu. Sorry guys! I know I was such an active updater at first, but then I took like… a 4 month hiatus…! I'm sorry! During my 4 month hiatus I was trying to think of a way to move the plot forward in an interesting and engaging way. So… I spent 4 months on this chapter alone. HUUUU!

But everything's alright now. I've updated and so on and so forth. Hopefully I'll crank out more chapters at a bit of a faster pace (1 chapter per 4 months is kinda bad). So yes. I'm still going to continue to write on this story, so don't worry.

Oh! And special thanks to SasuNaruLover22 for critiquing me on how to space sentences during a conversation! I've always had that inkling that something was off;; oh well! Hope you enjoyed!

Please review below! Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Rating:**T for swearing

**A/N:** Hey fellas. I know, I'm a liar and I should be hung at the gallows for not updating. I just started college (throws things out the window) and I've been on a writer's block for awhile. Originally this _was_ chapter 9 and half of chapter 10, but I synthesized them together and just started working that way. I was also working on this chapter really hard because I was trying to get back to how I wrote the 1st chapter. I'm not sure that this was successful, but hey—I tried. Finally, I know this story is a SASUNARU fanfic, but I think I might have to change it to 'EVENTUAL SASUNARU', urrp. Sorry folks who came because it said SASUNARU. Their relationship'll just have to wait after I finish the plot;; But yeah… Haha; So here you are, and I hope you enjoy it!

-Underground-

-Chapter 9-

Naruto wasn't the type to avoid people. He liked being near people, in their faces, being loud near them… He was a people-person. Of course, he _would_ strategically avoid a person if it were to affect his mental, emotional, and/or physical being… but for some reason, Naruto couldn't think of avoiding Sasuke.

Something about Sasuke screamed 'I know something you don't~' and him being a curious guy, Naruto wanted to know what. He was curious of Sasuke. Even if he _was_scared shitless by their first meeting, the blonde had thought about it—about Sasuke—about him being in a cave like that.

Why was he there?

Why was he left there?

Why was he the only person in the whole village of Konohagakure still alive?

What was that cave?

Who was Sasuke?

All of those questions had crossed Naruto's mind at least once… and Naruto wanted Sasuke to answer them.

But now, as Naruto sat in his last class before school ended, Neji wanted Naruto to avoid the raven like the plague. Sure, Neji had given him a damn good reason to avoid Sasuke (Sasuke was freaky and seemed like he could kill if he wanted to) and sure, usually Neji was right with his predications (almost 96% of the time). But Naruto had doubts about avoiding Sasuke.

And it frustrated the living crap out of Naruto.

The blonde couldn't think of making himself avoid Sasuke, and yet he didn't know why. Sasuke pulled him in. And Naruto was hooked. And that made Naruto mad.

'_Fucking __teme,__'_ he cursed. '_I__'__m __scared __of __the __guy, __yet __I __can__'__t __avoid __him.__'_

He groaned and slid his hand through his hair.

He had known Neji for a couple of years now. He had reason and experience to trust Neji's decision. Sasuke (who wanted to butt rape the blonde) only knew Naruto for a few short days. Neji obviously had prestige over Sasuke. So why couldn't Naruto bear the thought of avoiding Sasuke? !

'_He __excites __me?__'_ Cue the red face and mental screaming.

'_He__'__s __interesting?__'_ Naruto snorted at the thought of Sasuke's interesting duck-butt hair.

'_He __knows __something?__'_ Obviously, Naruto nodded. But _what?_

'_The__… __the __Uchiha __treasures?__'_ Light blub!

That had to be it. Of course Naruto knew Sasuke _couldn__'__t_ be the treasures. If Naruto avoided Sasuke, then it could potentially mean for Naruto that he would never find the treasures. If this was a video game (his mind sometimes thought things through like a video game), Sasuke was like the last puzzle before getting to the boss/treasure. Of course, the producers of this video game would _have_ to make this puzzle as hard as fuck, but the reward for the player's efforts would be recognized and given.

'_I __should __beat __the __things __I __need __to __know __outta __the __bastard. __Then __I__'__ll __avoid __him __like __Chouji __avoiding __a __diet...__'_

Naruto cackled quietly, thinking of mental images of him beating a pathetic and scrawny Sasuke saying 'where's the treasures-ttebayo?' 'gunna hold out on the good stuff-ttebayo?'

"Uzumaki!"

Naruto looked up, his eyes wide. Asuma looked at him with a frown.

"C'mon Naruto. Lunch's over."

"Sorry Asuma-sensei."

Naruto tugged his notebook out and grabbed his pen. Chewing the end of the pen, Naruto quickly scribbled down the notes on the board. His thought's wandered again to Neji's warning. It was strange, the things Neji was telling Naruto. Especially about the voices.

"…_think about it Naruto… something calling to you…_

_What if it's one of those demons…?"_

Naruto frowned and bit his pen again.

The blonde really didn't hear anything 'call' him when he was young. He just remembered murmuring, like a half-mute television show, always in the back of his mind—especially when he was falling asleep. Back then, right after the great quake, sleep was nearly nothing for the blonde. The murmuring kept him up.

"_I believe I have proof that these 'demons' are real…"_

His frown deepened. Neji was a goody-two-shoes, honestly. The boy had spouted nothing but destiny and fate crap the first time Naruto had met him, but of course after Naruto had kicked his ass the Hyuuga was a little more easy-going… But that didn't stop the pale-eyed man from being his usual-obedient-rule-abiding-self. Whatever Neji had spewed back at lunch—it didn't seem his nature. It screamed of 'coup d'etat.' Something Jiraiya would've been muttering about.

Naruto blinked and then looked back up again, scrawling the diagrams on the board.

'_Why __did __Neji __make __a __big __deal __out __of __it __though?__'_

He glanced up and continued to write quickly.

'_Does __Neji __think __that __the __voices __I__'__m __hearing __are __related __to __Sasuke?__'_

Naruto chewed his pen and then spun it in his hand.

But why did Neji keep asking him such strange questions? Like the noises from the pipes? Or that gust of wind in the warehouse district? Or his tattoo?

The blonde looked at his clothed stomach and could imagine clearly the red swirl on his stomach. He put a tentative hand on it, as if it would reach out to gnaw on his hand. He rubbed it and then looked back up to continue his notes.

Sasuke was suspicious, but…

Naruto felt his face grow red again. No, Sasuke wasn't trustworthy either… He was…

The raven was more curious to the blonde than anything.

Naruto grumbled, confused at his thoughts.

"Alright. That's the last of it."

Naruto looked around, surprised. Had he been thinking so long?

Asuma stood in the front with a bored look on his face. He started," Remember, tomorrow there are no classes."

Naruto blinked and raised his hand," Why not?"

Asuma sighed and waved his hand in the direction of the TV that hung in the top corner of the room. "It's been all over the news. Don't you kids watch TV?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. The news was boring. Who watched that crap?

Their teacher grunted and answered Naruto's earlier question," Tomorrow's the day when the royal family from Sunagakure will be coming. So the President has called a holiday in 'celebration' for this fine day. As if you guys didn't need to be behind anymore in your studies…"

Naruto 'huh'-ed and cocked his head to the side. '_Royal __family, __huh? __Wonder __why __they__'__re __here__…'_

* * *

"…**. ….. … .. …"**

Naruto glided on his sky-board slowly, not paying attention to his companion's long rants about how 'Ino-pig needed to spend more time studying books than boys'. He thought back to the 'Underground' and thought about another escape there. It was a simple task—just find a hole in the chain-linked fence and escape onto the nearest pole. For some reason, it was so easy to escape. Even with their strict government, it was too easy.

"**.. . . ….. … ."**

…But that didn't matter. All that mattered was going back down there and actually bringing back _treasure_ and not some _horny __bastard_. Naruto grumbled under his breathe, thinking back to his sensei's 'words of wisdom:'

_"It was common logic among treasure hunters: Barriers were made to keep people away from precious things, especially treasure."_

Yeah right, Naruto thought angrily. _'__All __I __found_ _was __that __bastard. __And __look __where __it __got __me!__'_

"… **. . . …"**

"…**. . . . . . …. ."**

Naruto sighed and thought of Konoha again. In his mind's eye, he could still see the large village, the vines and dirt that clung to the clean but empty streets, the large red building at the end of the village… even the large stone monument with the 4 faces and other shabby forehead. Naruto mentally stopped.

"…**. …. … .. .."**

Wasn't there something familiar about that monument…?

"**.. . …. . .. . … ."**

Naruto frowned but shook it away from his mind.

"Ahh, I'm so glad we don't have school tomorrow."

Naruto turned to the girl. He grinned and agreed loudly," For real! Maybe I should write that royal family a letter of thanks for this single day off."

"…**.. …. .. .."**

Sakura hummed and then stopped in front of the supermarket. She turned to Naruto, an index finger wagging at him. "I need to go pick up some fruits for the dinner tonight. It'll only be 10 minutes." Her jade eyes lowered dangerously.

"Don't go anywhere, Naruto."

Naruto chuckled and scratched his nose. He watched meekly as Sakura disappeared behind the sliding doors. Sighing, he hopped off his sky-board and sat on a bench outside.

If he was to go back, his best bet was that red building in the village. He'd have to ask Tenten if she could sneak into their family's weapon supply and hook him up with some bombs (her family supplied precious metals and equipment to the government, and Tenten never asked what he did with the stuff he bought). That building screamed of suspiciousness after all.

The blonde closed his eyes and let his body relax.

"…**. . … .. . . ….. …. . . ."**

"… **. . . …"**

His main priority was to get down to the 'Underground' again. He had time of course, but he wanted to get there as soon as possible. He felt uneasy. After Neji's little warning, Naruto knew that he needed to get the treasures before anything bad could happen. Bad ranged from something destroying the treasures to the government finding out his little escapades. But not only that, he wanted to confirm the voices.

"…**. . … . . .."**

It was his main goal after all. He wanted to find out the origin of these odd voices. That was the 1st reason why he had sought Jiraiya out and studied his ass off. Now, more than ever, he needed to find something to connect to the voices. Their hollow voices bubbled in the back of his head and it was beginning to bother him. They had started to mutter quietly ever since he had met up with Sakura. It was a bit nerve-wracking to hear them again. It had been awhile.

"… … … …**. ….. …."**

He placed a relatively cool hand on his forehead and brushed some of his hair back.

"_You'd best keep away from him and attempt to cut ties—immediately."_

Naruto opened his eyes and stared at the slowly darkening sky. He squinted and wondered where the sun went, when suddenly a jingle and a faint 'thank you, please come again' was heard near him.

Sakura sighed and put a hand out. "Can you carry these?"

"…**. … … . . . . ."**

Naruto blinked but smiled and took a hold of the bags. As he and Sakura continued on their way to the onsen hotels, Sakura glanced at Naruto.

"Are you worried?"

"…**. …. ….. …"**

Naruto looked at her.

"…**. . . … …"**

She repeated," Are you worried?"

"What do you mean Sakura-chan?"

"You've been in a daze since school got out. Did something happen?"

"… … **. . …. …"**

Naruto laughed and shook his head. He lied smoothly," Nothing, just tired ya know?"

Her gaze became half-lidded but her mouth squeezed shut.

"**.. .. . …."**

Naruto tried to laugh again," C'mon Sakura-chan! There's nothing wrong. There's no school tomorrow, I'm gunna be eating good food with you and your grandparents… There's nothing to be in a daze about."

"Bull."

Naruto stopped and looked at the rosette. "Sakura-chan…?"

"… **. . ….. . ."**

She glared at the blonde. "Bullshit."

Naruto blinked and then jumped back when Sakura poked him fiercely in the chest with a sharp finger.

"Don't you dare lie to me Naruto. I hate it when you lie because you think you can save the people around you when you do."

The way her eyes bore into him made Naruto feel guilty.

"… … … **. . …. … . ."**

"You're not saving anybody by lying. When you lie to someone, it means you look down on them!"

Naruto flinched and looked away. He wasn't expecting Sakura to be reading him so easily… He stole at glance at her as she shifted her stance with her arms crossed and her weight on one leg, the other foot tapping the ground impatiently. And besides, he wasn't trying to lie to her! He just…

"**.. . . . …. .. . ."**

"I'm not trying to lie to you Sakura-chan… I'm just…"

"Just what?"

"I'm just afraid of something."

She frowned and uncrossed her arms. She nodded for him to continue.

Naruto stuttered and rubbed the back of his head, looking down," I have to make this decision… A kinda big one. It's not like I'm gunna die if I make a mistake, but it's been bothering me."

Naruto fiddled with the bag in his hand and gulped, continuing slowly," I mean… Okay… A good, good friend of mine gave me advice and told me to stay away from this other guy that I just become… uhh, close… uhh, 'friends' with. My good, good friend has a lot of good reasons why I should avoid the new 'friend', but I feel like I can't avoid the new 'friend.'

"I have like… so many reasons to avoid the new guy, but I just don't feel right…"

Sakura gave a small sigh and walked forward to bop Naruto lightly on the head. She smiled gently," Although your good, good friend has given you reasons to avoid the new friend, I think you should continue to stay with the new one."

"… **.. . . … . . ."**

Naruto blinked and Sakura laughed, continuing," I mean, you don't feel right about avoiding him right?"

"Like, I feel like the new 'friend' has something that I need to know about."

"Then do whatever your heart tells you to. Cliché I know, but the heart sometimes makes judgments that can be stronger than the brain. After all, the brain over thinks many of the situations we're put in. So stop thinking about it. Whatever happens.."

"Happens," finished Naruto. He gave a bright smile and scratched his nose.

"**.. . . …. . . . . . …. … . .."**

* * *

Kumogakure was a fairly decent village. It wasn't as old-fashioned as Konoha, but it was still just as large. All buildings were pretty uniform in making: the first floor was made from steel and then covered up with plaster, then the second floor and up was made with cement. There were barred square windows on the first floor, while on the above floors were windows where the top was curved and the bottom was rectangular. All the roofs in Kumogakure were flat, unlike Konoha's varied rooftops. The artificial plants that grew on the windowsills of some houses were always kept tidy and was never to overgrow otherwise there was a fine given. On every corner of Kumogakure's main streets there was an *info-check blaring out propaganda and bits and pieces of infotainment into the streets. Unlike Konoha, which was surrounded by a large gate and wall, Kumogakure was surrounded by a thin chain-linked fence. In some areas, like the ports, the chain-fences would disappear. At the edges of the city, the hungry and poor lived. During the summer and winters, they would gather around the pole openings, cherishing the cool breeze in the summer to the puffs of warm air in the winter.

The pole openings—that was the only irregular thing that was left alone in Kumogakure. They opened mostly near the edges of the floating village, but in plenty of areas there were covered poles sticking out of the ground. Some poles even peeked up from the ground in the middle of the street, forcing constructors to make road islands for the poles. Some people petitioned the President to do something about the inconsistent pole locations, but the petition was killed in the Government. Some people said that it was because the Premier's own home and where the Government resided, was located inside of a larger pole. A single pole that was wide and large enough to keep the island floating. Naruto had asked the Pervy Sage if that was true, but the white-haired professor had shrugged, saying that there was a chance that it was. After all, the government building was located right smack in the center of Kumogakure, towering above the rest of the village.

For Naruto, he had grown up next to the pole openings. He had moved when he was much older, but when he was younger and after the great quake, the poles would shudder and sigh outside his window. The younger Naruto looked forward to those groans and shudders of the poles. It kept his mind off of the murmuring. But not only that, the poles seemed to _speak_ to Naruto. Unlike the murmuring of the voices, Naruto could hear small whispers. Sometimes he could catch a short sentence floating from the pole openings. He swore he heard the pole curse once too.

He had asked Jiraiya about the poles itself, of course, and that was when Jiraiya had told him about chakra. This was long after the accident with the children on his way to school, and it was during a time when Naruto's depression was deeply rooted. This was probably around his Freshman year. Before he met his friends. Jiraiya had taught him sky-boarding then.

"_Listen up, Naruto. Chakra is in everyone!"_

Naruto smiled to himself at the memory of _that_ lesson. That was the 1st lesson Jiraiya had given him on sky-boarding.

"_Everyone in the Sekai has it, but only a few can actually **use** it. But, anyone can use it by using boosters."_

"_Pervy Sage, what's a booster? Like a baby booster?"_

"_No you dolt! Look at your sky-board… that's a booster. Sky-boards react to a person's chakra and that's how you float. Of course, zooming around and performing tricks is a whole other matter."_

"_How come?"_

"_You need to manipulate your Chakra to work. That's why you don't see many people boarding these things. Adults who don't exercise their Chakra in their youth will never be able to use it later on. That's why your generation is out there causing havoc on these boards."_

"…_Do I think of using Chakra?"_

"_Wha..? What do you mean kid?"_

"_Like… Like, if I.. Uhm… Say I imagine a gust of wind pushing me forward on my sky-board… would it work?"_

"_...Well, visualization **is** a way to utilize your Chakra I guess. …Bah! Just do whatever you want!"_

Naruto remembered himself thinking back on the voice that instructed him on using his chakra against the kids. He slowed behind Sakura as they began to see the rosette's home.

Was he near the poles? Was that why he could hear them so clearly?

"Naruto!"

He blinked and yelped, swerving around a street sign. He heard Sakura laugh in the distance.

"C'mon, I have to prepare the food ya know."

"Sorry, sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto laughed sheepishly, gliding over to her and handing her the grocery bags. She laughed lightly and opened the front door of her house. Naruto hopped off the sky-board and pocketed it. He reached over to untie his shoe when he felt a shiver pass through him.

"…**. .. .. .. . ….!"**

Naruto turned around and saw a flicker of red disappear around a corner. He blinked and stood up straight, pulling his board out again.

"**..! ...! ...!"**

"Naruto?"

At the sound of his name, he turned around and saw Sakura standing in the hall, an apron wrapped around her. She turned her head and asked," Are you coming in or not?"

Naruto laughed again and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry. I just thought I saw a cat."

"…**! …. .. ..!"**

Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed," You were always fond of animals." Naruto grinned embarrassingly again.

"…**.! … . .. . …"**

He rubbed the back of his neck. The murmuring had sounded so loud for a second, that it shocked him. He had nearly chased after that red flash too.

He stepped inside of the house and clicked the door shut, removing his shoes in the process.

"… **. . .. ."**

"Naruto, come in here and help me!"

Naruto turned to the sound and walked to the kitchen, sniffing the air. Entering into the neat, old-style kitchen, Naruto beamed at the busty blonde standing in the kitchen.

"Smells good, Baa-chan!"

Tsunade gave a sour expression at the nickname but only nodded, scooping some soup into a bowl. She placed the bowl on a tray of other foods and lifted it steadily. Naruto looked at the tray: besides the clear soup there was a plate of sliced tomatoes and some rice balls on top.

"… **. . . .. .. .."**

"Who's the food for, Baa-chan?"

"A guest, kiddo."

"The guest that we're supposed to eat with tonight?"

"**.. . . . …. .."**

She shook her head and slowly walked past Naruto. "No. Just an old friend."

Naruto squinted at the statement and watched the ex-President disappear through another set of doors and towards the onsens and hotel rooms. It couldn't be _him_, right? It would be too ironic. And freaky.

"Na-ru-to!"

"**.. . …. .. . … . . . . .. . ."**

The blonde jumped and turned around, staring at the old woman's granddaughter.

"Seriously Naruto! C'mere and help me."

Another grin and an embarrassed nod later, Naruto found himself slicing vegetables.

"…**. . . . …"**

Naruto sliced a carrot in half but glared at the orange food in front of him. The murmuring was starting to get on his nerves. He gave another glare to the vegetable and then cut it in half again.

"… **. . . …"**

_Uughh, just shut up, whatever's muttering back there…_

"… **. …. .. ."**

Naruto groaned and tossed the cut carrots into the boiling pot. He washed his hands and nodded to Sakura, who shooed him out into the dining hall. _Women_, he thought with a sigh, _they __ask __you __for __your __help __and __as __soon __as __they __get __it __they __toss __you._ He chuckled though.

"**.. . . ….. . ."**

He stretched his arms over his head and walked around the tidy room. The rectangular oak table (Tsunade had boasted that the oak was from a beautiful oak tree in the 'Underground') seated at least 9 people but was set-up for only 5. On the walls were pictures of all sorts. There were a couple of pictures of Tsunade during her Presidency, some of Sakura's school portraits, even a few of Naruto's, and a couple others. There was a dresser in the far back of the room where an alter was positioned with 3 photographs hanging above it. Naruto looked away from it.

He didn't like looking at his father's smiling face.

_Ding-dong!_

Naruto looked up and heard Sakura's light footsteps in the distance, heading towards the front door.

"Ah! It's you!"

Naruto began walking through the kitchen and then peeked into the hallway. He blinked and then jumped out, his index finger shooting out at the newcomers.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"**. . . . …. .. ."**

Naruto bounded up to the man and Jiraiya, who stood at the open door. He stood next to Sakura, his mouth frowned.

"_You__'__re_ the special guest Tsunade invited from dinner?"

"**. ….. . .."**

Kakashi crinkled his eye and chuckled," Really Naruto? You sound so unimpressed!"

"I thought it was someone super cool. Turns out to just be you."

The guest feigned a gasp and put a hand over his black turtleneck. "You wound me Naruto! Has Iruka-kun been rubbing off you?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and Kakashi chuckled, walking into the entryway to take off his dress shoes.

Although Naruto had said that stuff to Kakashi, he was actually surprised the man was here. It had been nearly 2 years since he had seen Kakashi, yet the man looked no different (or dressed, for that matter) from how he was before. He had the same spiky silver hair, annoying turtleneck that covered half his face, and the eye patch that shielded his left eye.

"**. . . . . . …. ."**

"Does Iruka-sensei know you're here," questioned Sakura.

There was another crinkling of the eye and Kakashi scratched the back of his head," Oh he does. But he's the one who shooed me out to come here."

Naruto scoffed," Bet it was cuz you couldn't keep your hands to yourself, you perverted lech."

Kakashi chuckled again and put his large hands atop his former student's heads, rubbing them affectionately. He gave a presumable smile and pointed out," You two have grown since I've seen you."

"**.. . . …. . … . ."**

"Of course! I'm a growin' boy after all."

Kakashi nodded and walked past the two high school-ers, walking towards the dining room.

Naruto turned to Jiraiya and crossed his arms," That it?"

The white-haired man who had stood behind Kakashi smirked. "Why? Expecting someone else?"

Naruto blinked.

"Someone tall, dark-haired, and…"

"…**. . . . ."**

Naruto yelped and slapped his tan hands over the laughing teacher, glancing at Sakura who looked perplex. Jiraiya winked at his granddaughter and she 'oh-ed' silently.

"A crush?"

"Like, no!"

* * *

Kakashi sighed and placed a hand over his stomach. He turned his head towards Tsunade, his eye crinkled and mused," A wonderful meal, as usual Tsunade-sama."

She snorted lightly and stood up to collect the plates with Sakura. As Sakura turned her back to enter the kitchen, she nodded to Jiraiya silently. The old man sighed and put his fork down, standing up also.

"Kakashi, Naruto. Let's head to my study for a couple minutes."

Naruto blinked and was about to protest when he heard the chair across from him move across the floor. He glanced up at his junior-high teacher who nodded with a smile. Grumbling, he stopped eating his (and Sakura's) dessert, following the two men upstairs.

As they entered upon Jiraiya's study, Naruto found himself being pushed into a seat in front of the white-haired's larger desk. Kakashi stood next to the blonde and from the doorway, there was a click.

"Hey—what..?"

Jiraiya walked behind his desk and sat down in the chair. He folded his hands in front of his face and leaned his chin on top. There was a dense silence that hovered in the room and Naruto could feel a cold sweat beginning to form.

Breaking the heavy silence, Kakashi coughed into his hand. He looked down at Naruto who sat stiffly in the chair, looking down at his stomach. The gray-haired spoke up. "Have you been hearing the voices lately Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at his side and looked into his teacher's visible eye. How had he known? Kakashi knew that Naruto heard voices (hell, the whole village knew at one point), but he never told anyone when the voices were exactly 'on.' Naruto blinked.

They had stopped.

He furrowed his brow a little, wondering when they had stopped their annoying noise when Jiraiya gave a heavy grunt. His blue eyes looked up at Jiraiya who suddenly seemed much older than the person who had taught him how to sky-board.

"Naruto… you know what my goal is already."

Naruto nodded: the goal to overthrow the President and end his dictatorship. He didn't know why, but that was his teacher's goal.

Jiraiya nodded to Kakashi. "Kakashi, here, has been helping me while he was away at Otogakure."

Kakashi humbly stood, his head bowed. Naruto, though, sat up a bit straighter. Kakashi was working for Jiraiya? That was news to him.

"He has been… collecting information for me. Passing it to me through Iruka. There have been on…"

"Wait the hell up! Iruka-sensei's in on your coup-plan?"

Jiraiya nodded.

"He has been for quite sometime." The old man stood up and leaned on his desk, continuing.

"You might know, but tomorrow it's a no-work-no-school day."

"For Suna's royal family, right?"

"Yes. The 'Premier's' esteemed guests. They are the reason why Kakashi is here right now."

"So why did you bring me in here? Shouldn't you be chatting with Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi cut in, hoping to soothe the somewhat strained tension between Naruto and Jiraiya. "We have a feeling that the Premier is going to try and stage an 'attack' on the government, and then use the Sunagakure's royal family as the attackers. This will then trigger a war between Suna and Kumo."

"Like I said, Kakashi-sensei, what does it have to do with me?"

"Everything, Naruto: remember when I first brought you into my workshop? How I told you that if I were to teach you how to sky-board and grind, you would be willing to do whatever I say?"

Naruto sat back into his chair, holding the arm-rests tightly. Using that promise was a low-blow to Naruto's pride. Jiraiya gave a strained smirk and continued.

"You see, the reason why I'm telling you this tonight, is that I need you to be with Suna's Tribute."

"Tribute? What?"

Jiraiya frowned. "Did you not read that scroll I gave you?"

Naruto shook his head and replied hotly," It was in some weird writing… I couldn't read it. I was gunna ask if this was some sort of joke…"

The younger looked up and saw Jiraiya looking panicked. He turned to Kakashi, ordering him to go down and get the blonde's backpack with the scroll inside. The man quickly strode out the door, shutting it with a click.

"What's the big deal..?"

"Everything! That scroll… that scroll…!" Jiraiya paced himself back and forth behind his desk, gripping his white-hair. He looked at Naruto and put a large palm on the desk.

"That scroll is your mother's."

Naruto's eyes widened and he stuttered," How do you have my mom's—everything of my mom's was burned or buried with her! How could you have something of hers?"

"Long story, short: I was instructed in her will to dig it up from her grave when you turned 16 so that I could ge=ive—"

"You **WHAT**? ! You dug open my mom's grave," Naruto shouted standing up quickly, his teeth bared and his hands squeezed into a tight fist. "How dare you? ! How dare you? !"

Jiraiya glared at him and answered fiercely back," If you love your mother, you would know that it was Kushina's will that I give this particular scroll to you! Do you think I enjoyed going through her casket to get that?"

Naruto bit his lip and forced himself down, breathing heavily. Jiraiya watched, his breathe a little ragged too.

"I did that because it was necessary. But, moving on, you said you couldn't read the scroll?"

Naruto looked down at his lap, twisting his hands. "…Yeah… It—it was in some slanted writing that I couldn't make out."

There was a rap on the door and Kakashi pulled himself in. He carried to the desk Naruto's black backpack. He carefully opened it and pulled out the scroll that was stuffed deep in the bag. Jiraiya took the scroll and opened it. His eyes widened.

"It's been tampered with."

"What," Kakashi and Naruto asked in unison.

"This scroll has been tampered with," Jiraiya looked up and straight into Naruto's eyes. "That means someone else was there first."

There was a loud clatter and Jiraiya felt the front of his jacket being tugged forward. Naruto gripped the fabric tightly and hissed," Who? !"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto and pulled him off of the old man, trying to calm his former student.

Jiraiya shook his head, lost. "I… I don't know… It was supposed to be your mother's message to you; you were supposed to be informed of your duties as a Tribute…!"

"What? Tribute, what do you mean?"

Jiraiya pushed his hand through his unkempt hair, shaking his head in dismay. "I can't explain it. The whole 'Tribute' thing is such a complicated matter."

He looked at Naruto with a foreign emotion that the blonde couldn't figure out exactly.

"You were supposed to be informed of your duty and you were supposed to help us when we took Suna's Royal family into hiding."

"You were going to WHAT? !"

"Not so loud Naruto! As I said, the Suna royals would be pinned down on 'allegedly' attacking the government. In order to prevent this, we were going to kidnap them during the parade when they would head out to the Government Hall.

You were to help us restrain Suna's tribute while we kept them on the down-low…"

Jiraiya shook his head in dismay," Now that your mother's message has been tampered with, you don't know your duties. You wouldn't know how to calm Suna's Tribute if he got out of hand, which is likely to happen."

Naruto stepped back a little. He was _that_ important?

"Remember what I said to you? At the docks? How the Kyuubi is the key to winning?"

Naruto nodded slowly.

"I meant what I said—the only way we can truly win in a coup d'état is if we have the Kyuubi. And the only way, that I so far can understand is that we need—"

"Don't you tell him!"

The door busted open and Tsunade stormed into the room. She slammed the door shut and walked straight up to her husband, jabbing a finger in his chest.

"When you told me that you needed to speak to Naruto, you said that you needed to discuss his school ethics and his future. This is _not_ the kind of future you needed to talk about!"

Jiraiya looked wide-eyed, but snarled back at his wife," Enough, Tsunade! You can't hide it from him forever, especially now that Sasuke's here!"

"I can, and I will! He's only a boy, Jiraiya. What you're pinning him up to is the Akatsuki, him, and the Kyuubi itself! He'll die, and he'll die all because of this war that is between me and you against him!"

"This is Kushina's _will_to Naruto!"

"Kushina wanted Naruto to live a life away from his Tribute roles! This isn't Konoha, Jiraiya! Stop looking into the past!"

"STOP!"

Tsunade and Jiraiya flinched, turning around to look at Naruto for the first time throughout their fight. He looked at the couple, anger ripping his insides.

"Don't you dare talk about _my_ future without _my_consent, especially in front of me!"

"Naru—"

"Baa-chan, please! I want to know what's going on. I wanna know why Sasuke being here is so important, or why I hear these weird voices, or why you two have been planning this coup for so long. I don't understand why anything's happening and I want answers!"

Tsunade stood back up stiffly, looking at Naruto. Her precious little Naruto who reminded her so much of his father. She looked down at the floor.

"You're like you're father."

Naruto looked away.

Tsunade chuckled, her throat tight," So full of determination. Minato was always bent on getting answers. But then you're stubborn too… Like your mother." She looked up at him, her brown eyes swirling with agony.

"When I lost your mother, I promised myself that I would never let anything happen to you or to your father. I promised that I would let you and Minato live a free life without having to worry about what she endured in Konoha. And then… and then when Minato died…

Naruto, listen to me."

She strode up to the teenager and put her hands on his shoulders, squeezing them.

"Your mother lived a hard life in Konoha. Living in Kumogakure, for even how short a time that was, changed her so much Naruto. I don't want you to become what Kushina was when she was living back there."

Naruto looked back at Tsunade. "Because she was a Tribute?"

"She endured so much pain, Naruto. Nothing physical, but mental—emotional. She couldn't connect to people properly. She held them away at a distance. She was scared. Always scared."

"But I'm not her, am I?"

Tsunade paused and then let go of his shoulders, stepping back to look at Naruto fully.

"I'm not her, right? I'm me. I'm Naruto. Not Kushina," his eyes flared brilliantly as he increased his voice. "I love my mom, but I'm not her. Don't just treat me as 'Minato and Kushina's kid' Baa-chan. Can't you treat me as Naruto?"

For awhile, there was a silence that hung in the air. Tsunade covered her mouth and wrapped her free arm around her chest, looking away from Naruto. She glanced back at him every so often, but said nothing. Jiraiya sighed and came up behind Tsunade, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. The busty woman only shook her head rubbed her eyes fiercely. She gave one more look at Naruto and he could literally see what she was thinking. He looked down and played with the hem of his shirt.

At last, Tsunade gave a heavy sigh and unfolded her arms. She walked up to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If you really want answers, you need to speak to someone who knows mostly everything you need to know."

* * *

"**.. .. . …. .. ."**

Tsunade stopped in front of the farthest hotel doors. Naruto could see her mind tinkering. She gave herself a short nod and then pulled out a card, sliding it into a scanner on the door. There was a tiny beep and the door pushed open slightly. She held the handle and stared long at Naruto.

"He's inside."

Naruto nodded slowly. He walked forward and took hold of the handle that Tsunade let go. He stood in front of the door and thought to himself how his urge to find the answers had suddenly turned into a suicide mission. He gulped and pushed the door open.

"**.. . . .. . …. . ."**

The room was dark, but the window was open. Moonlight pooled into the dark room, and Naruto could see the outline of the figure sitting on a chair next to the bed. As Naruto shut the door behind him, the tiny beep quickly alerted the other of the blonde's presence. There was a long silence as Naruto stood there, trying to come up with something to say. So when blue eyes stared back into swirling red eyes, Naruto suddenly clammed up.

The red eyes turned away but Naruto could hear the other stand up and approach him. The floor squeaked under the footsteps that sounded so light to Naruto, but it helped the blonde gauge where exactly he was standing. The floors stopped and Naruto knew he was standing in front of the other. He could see the outline a bit better in the dark now.

"**. .. . ."**

The two stood dangerously near yet far from each other. Near enough to lash a punch at the other and far enough so that they couldn't exactly sense each other's feelings.

There was a quiet ticking near the window and Naruto saw that it was already nearly 10 in the evening. He had plenty of homework and he wanted to go and play games with Kiba and call Neji to tell him how crazy his night was and…

and…

"Naruto." The deep voice resonated in the darkness and Naruto suddenly forgot how masculine the other sounded. It made his legs uncomfortably wobbly and made him forget about standing with pride.

"… **. … . . . . ."**

"Naruto," he repeated.

Naruto looked back at him and regained his posture. He nodded stiffly and replied a bit deeper than his usual tenor.

"Sasuke."

The floor squeaked again, but this time to the side of Naruto. It continued with its noise, circling around Naruto.

"…**.. . . . ."**

"Is there anything you need? Tsunade had mentioned that you were here tonight."

Naruto kept a calm demeanor as he felt Sasuke slid behind him and then slid around. He felt like he was suddenly meat, being circled by a starving predator.

"**. . . . …"**

"She did, did she? She didn't say anything about you being here. Only that you'd give me the answers I need."

"…**.. ."**

The floors stopped protesting at last, but Naruto felt a hand wrap tightly around his arm. He felt the wind for a second and suddenly he was looking up at the ceiling. The red eyes came into vision and Naruto felt the furniture he was thrown on sink a bit.

"**. . . …. …"**

"And what questions would be needed to answer?"

"Who are you?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"You knew my mom?"

"Uzumaki Kushina. Yes, I did."

"My dad?"

"Namikaze Minato. I did know him too."

"Do you know who I am then?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Do you know what I am?"

Naruto stared into those red eyes and waited for an answer. Instead of an answer, Sasuke pulled himself up and sat next to Naruto on the bed. The blonde pushed himself up and swung his legs over the edge. Cupping his face in his hands, he stared at the door.

"You are," Sasuke began slowly. "You are the Kyuubi's Tribute."

"…**Finally…"**

**A/N:** TBC. Hmmmmrm. I tried right? Hopefully it turned out fine. Ahuuuuuu /wailing. Sorry everyone, I really might just update every few months now. Unless inspiration hits me hard. Then I'll get back to you lovely people as soon as I can~! But yes, review! Tell me anything that needs work on! I'm willing to improve as much as I can, so please—gimme your reviews! Thank you again!

*info-check: Think of those maps at the malls where you see where the stores are, where you are, and advertisements. Now think of them as a TV screen blaring out random things and propaganda. That's basically what an info-check is.

"… **.****.****..****"**: The murmuring voices in the back of Naruto's head.

Review!

V


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